On June 24, 2011, the California First District Court of Appeal granted the petition of writ of supersedeas from the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) which stayed a state superior court decision that ordered CARB to halt their cap-and-trade program.The First District Court of Appeal first granted consideration of CARB’s petition to overturn the state court decision on June 3, 2011 (see June 17, 2011 edition of the WER).

This ruling will allow CARB to move forward on cap-and-trade rulemaking while CARB appeals the superior court decision where Judge Ernest Goldsmith ordered CARB to stop implementing a cap-and-trade program until the board analyzes alternatives to the cap-and-trade program as part of the agency’s scoping plan under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) (see May 27, 2011 edition of the WER).  In response to Judge Goldsmith’s decision, CARB has issued a press release stating they disagree with Judge Goldsmith’s decision, but they also released an analysis with more details on five alternatives that are now open for a 45-day public review and comment period.

A copy of the CARB analysis of alternatives is available here.

A link to the docket for this case is available here.