Hot Air: Jerry Brown Becomes Climate Change Warrior

"Brown insisted that the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires local governments to consider how land-use plans and development projects could contribute to climate change. And he warned that attorneys in his office are reviewing and commenting on environmental impact reports for the plans and projects. His office will sue local governments that don't take the comments seriously, Brown said.

However, one of the state's leading land use attorneys questioned Brown's approach. Stephen Kostka conceded that planners must consider the consequences of plans, but he argued that CEQA is the wrong tool for addressing the issue of climate change. Land development does not cause greenhouse gas emissions; it’s economic growth, population growth and human activity that cause the emissions, he contended."