Here we consider two questions: (1) What are the standing requirements for a corporate entity to challenge a determination on the preparation of an environmental impact report (EIR)? (2) Was the City of Manhattan Beach required to prepare an EIR on the effects of an ordinance banning the use of plastic bags by local businesses?
Plaintiff, a coalition of plastic bag manufacturers and distributors, claims standing to maintain a citizen suit to vindicate the public interest in environmental quality. The trial court and the Court of Appeal granted plaintiff standing on that basis. Both courts rejected the city's argument that plaintiff had failed to make the enhanced showing required by Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. v. County of Alameda (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 1223, 1238 [94 Cal.Rptr.2d 740] (Waste Management) for corporate entities to bring a citizen suit. We agree that plaintiff would qualify for public interest standing here, and disapprove Waste Management's holding that corporations are subject to heightened scrutiny when they file citizen suits. We also conclude that plaintiff, which represents businesses directly affected by the Manhattan Beach ordinance, has standing in its own right to challenge the city's analysis of environmental impacts.
On the merits, the courts below ruled that the city had to prepare an EIR before implementing a ban on plastic bags. We disagree. Substantial evidence and common sense support the city's determination that its ordinance would have no significant environmental effect. Therefore, a negative declaration was sufficient to comply with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA; Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.).
On June 3, 2008, the city manager of Manhattan Beach issued a staff report recommending the adoption of an ordinance banning the use of "point-of-sale plastic carry-out bags" in the city. The proposed ordinance included a finding that CEQA did not apply because the ban would have no significant effect on the environment (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 14, § 15061, subd. (b)(3)), and because it qualified as a regulatory program to protect the environment (id., § 15308).
The city then conducted an initial study evaluating the environmental impacts of the proposed ordinance. The study noted: "Reducing the use of plastic bags in Manhattan Beach will have only a modest positive impact on the migration of plastic refuse into the ocean. However, as a coastal City the imposition of the ban is likely to have some modest impact on improving water quality and removing a potential biohazard from the marine environment." The study recognized that a switch from plastic to paper bags would have some negative environmental consequences. More energy is needed to manufacture and distribute paper bags, and more wastewater is produced in their manufacture and recycling. However, the study concluded that the impacts of a plastic bag ban would be less than significant, for the following reasons:
"The population of Manhattan Beach is only 33,852 according to the 2000 census. However, per capita bag usage would provide an inflated measurement of any net increase in paper bag use since the proposed ordinance does not ban the use of plastic bags by residents but [rather] their distribution at point of sale. Only 11.2% of the City is zoned commercial and there are only 217 licensed retail establishments within the City which might use plastic bags. There are only two supermarkets, three (and two future) drug stores, and one Target store known to be high volume users of plastic shopping bags in the City which would be affected by the ban. The remaining businesses tend to be smaller and lower volume and many restaurants and most fast food outlets already use paper bags for take out orders.
"Plastic bags would not be replaced by paper bags on a one to one ratio since paper bags have a higher capacity. One study (commissioned by the plastic bag industry) estimates that for every 1500 plastic bags it would take 1000 paper bags to replace them. Other studies find that paper bags may hold up to four times the volume of plastic bags. In light of anticipated education efforts, increased publicity (partially resulting from the subject ordinance), and the public's increased concern for pollution and water quality, at least some percentage of plastic bags are expected to be replaced by reusable bags rather than paper bags."
Based on these considerations, the initial study concluded that any increase in the use of paper bags in Manhattan Beach would be relatively small, with minimal impacts on energy use, air quality, water quality, vehicle traffic, and solid waste facilities. It noted that the ordinance posed no environmental threat to fish, wildlife, plant communities, historical resources, or human beings. On the other hand, it would decrease the prevalence of plastic bag litter, both in the city itself and in the ocean. Therefore, the study recommended adoption of a negative declaration finding that the ordinance could not have a significant effect on the environment.
Plaintiff again objected and threatened litigation if the ordinance was adopted. Plaintiff referred to two studies, one prepared in 2005 by the Scottish government and one issued in 2008 by the editors of an online newsletter, the Use Less Stuff (ULS) Report. Both concluded that the "life cycle" of paper bags, including their manufacture, transport, and disposal, has a greater environmental impact than the "life cycle" of plastic bags. Plaintiff contended this evidence established a reasonable possibility that increased use of paper bags as a result of the proposed ordinance would have a significant negative effect on the environment, requiring the preparation of a full EIR.
On July 1, 2008, the city issued another staff report addressing the "life cycle" studies. In addition to the Scottish and ULS studies, city staff had reviewed a Washington Post report; a 1990 study by Franklin Associates, Ltd.; an analysis conducted by the Fund for Research into Industrial Development, Growth and Equity; and a 2007 report by Boustead Consulting & Associates Ltd. The staff report also discussed a comparative analysis of bag "life cycle" studies prepared by the South African Department of Trade and Industry. The report noted that varying assumptions were employed from study to study, and that "differing results from the [studies] could be selectively used to lend support to proponents of either plastic or paper bags." The South African analysis had concluded that "life cycle" studies were "sensitive to and limited by factors such as scope, objectivity, geography, climate, and energy sources," and "can be constructed to carry a specific message by carefully selecting the impacts to examine." City staff recommended adopting the proposed ordinance, and embarking on "an aggressive
The Manhattan Beach City Council adopted ordinance No. 2115 on July 15, 2008. The council's findings are set forth in section 1 of the ordinance:
"A. As a coastal city Manhattan Beach has a strong interest in protecting the marine environment an element which contributes to the unique quality of life in the City.
"B. Plastic and paper bags each have negative impacts on the environment. It is well known that paper bags require more energy to manufacture and recycle and generate effluent during these processes. It is also known that paper bags are bulkier and heavier than plastic bags.
"C. However a primary and significant problem with plastic bags is that they do not biodegrade and are extremely light and easily caught in the wind. In a coastal city like Manhattan Beach even plastic bags which are properly discarded can find their way into the marine environment where they do not break down and essentially remain indefinitely.
"D. The Pacific Ocean contains a huge accumulation of debris known as the `Great Pacific Garbage Patch' which consists mostly of plastic debris. Some scientists estimate the density of plastic in this garbage patch as one million pieces of plastic per square mile. While plastic does not bio-degrade it does `photo-degrade' breaking down into smaller pieces which can make their way into the food chain [via] such animals as jellyfish.
"E. While the exact numbers are unknown there are many reported instances of marine animals being injured or dying from ingesting or choking on plastic debris in the ocean. It is reasonable to conclude from such information that the presence of plastic debris in the ocean provides a hazard for marine life.
"F. Because there is a strong possibility that plastic bags discarded in Manhattan Beach can end up in the ocean where they will last indefinitely and create an aesthetic blight and potential hazard to marine life (and paper bags will not do so because they biodegrade and are less likely to be blown out to sea) it is in the best interests of the public health, safety and welfare to adopt the proposed ban on distribution of plastic bags at point of sale within the boundaries of the City of Manhattan Beach.
"H. An Initial Environmental Study was prepared in compliance with the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act. Based upon this study it was determined that the project is not an action involving any significant impacts upon the environment, and a Negative Declaration was prepared and is hereby adopted.
"I. The proposed amendments will have no negative impact on Fish and Game resources pursuant to Section 21089(b) of the Public Resources Code." (City of Manhattan Beach Ord. No. 2115, § 1.)
The ordinance provides: "No Affected Retail Establishment, Restaurant, Vendor or Non-Profit Vendor shall provide Plastic Carry-Out Bags to customers at the point of sale. Reusable Bags and Recyclable Paper Bags are allowed alternatives." (City of Manhattan Beach Ord. No. 2115, § 2(b)A.) "Recyclable" is defined as: "material that can be sorted, cleansed, and reconstituted using Manhattan Beach's available recycling collection programs." (Id., § 2(a).) The ordinance also states: "Affected Retail Establishments are strongly encouraged to provide incentives for the use of Reusable Bags through education and through credits or rebates for customers that use Reusable Bags at the point of sale for the purpose of carrying away goods." (Id., § 2(b)C.)
On August 12, 2008, plaintiff petitioned for a writ of mandate to bar enforcement of the ordinance until the city prepared an EIR. Plaintiff claimed that public rights were at stake, and that its "objective in bringing this action [was] that of an interested citizen seeking to procure enforcement of . . . public duties." The city responded that plaintiff lacked standing to bring a citizen suit under Waste Management, supra, 79 Cal.App.4th 1223, because corporations are not "citizens" and plaintiff was seeking to advance the commercial and competitive interests of its members. The city also argued that plaintiff had failed to show that the ordinance would have any substantial impact on the environment.
The trial court granted the writ. It found that plaintiff had standing because it was not a "for-profit corporation that is seeking a commercial advantage over a specific competitor," and because it had raised a "genuine environmental issue: whether the banning of plastic bags, and the consequent increase in the use of paper bags, will increase, rather than decrease, injury to the environment." The court further concluded that the evidence in the record
The Court of Appeal affirmed, in a split opinion. On the standing question, the majority decided that plaintiff was qualified to pursue its action under the "public right/public duty" exception to the requirement that a mandamus petition be brought by a "beneficially interested" party. (Green v. Obledo (1981) 29 Cal.3d 126, 145 [172 Cal.Rptr. 206, 624 P.2d 256]; Code Civ. Proc., § 1086.) The majority reasoned that plaintiff was not asserting a commercial or purely competitive interest, and should be allowed to seek enforcement of the city's public duty to prepare an EIR on the effects of the ordinance. On the merits, the majority held that plaintiff had submitted substantial evidence to support a fair argument that the ban would have significant environmental impacts.
The dissent did not address the standing issue, but argued that CEQA requirements would be stretched to the point of absurdity if a small city were required to prepare an EIR on the effects of increased paper use that might result from a ban on the distribution of plastic bags. The dissent concluded that the "life cycle" studies on the global environmental effects of paper production did not provide substantial evidence of any environmental harm caused by the Manhattan Beach ordinance.
We granted the city's petition for review.
Here, plaintiff claims public interest standing to pursue its CEQA action. The city, relying on Waste Management, supra, 79 Cal.App.4th 1223, argues that plaintiff is not a "citizen" and has not demonstrated a genuine and continuing environmental concern sufficient to support public interest standing. In Waste Management, a landfill operator obtained a writ of mandate directing that permits issued to a competing operator be set aside and not reissued until the environmental effects of the competitor's operations were reviewed under CEQA. (Waste Management, supra, 79 Cal.App.4th at p. 1228.) The Court of Appeal reversed, concluding that the plaintiff lacked standing.
The Waste Management court first held that the plaintiff did not have the beneficial interest required for a writ of mandate because it asserted only a commercial and competitive interest. The plaintiff's grievance was that it had been required to undergo expensive CEQA review in a comparable permitting process, and would suffer economic injury if its competitor escaped such costs of compliance. The court ruled that this injury was not within the "zone of interests" protected by CEQA, and thus was too indirect to establish the requisite beneficial interest. (Waste Management, supra, 79 Cal.App.4th at p. 1235.)
In the case before us, the Court of Appeal cited Waste Management but did not hold plaintiff to the special showing required by that decision. Though plaintiff is an association representing corporate entities, the court simply decided that plaintiff's interest was not purely commercial and competitive, observed that "maintaining a quality environment is a matter of statewide concern," and concluded that public interest standing was available to seek enforcement of the city's duty to prepare an EIR weighing the impacts of a ban on plastic bags.
We agree with the Court of Appeal that plaintiff's commercial interests were not an impediment to its standing here. Further, we approve the court's implicit rejection of the Waste Management rule holding corporations to a higher standard in qualifying for public interest standing. Only one other Court of Appeal has considered the details of the Waste Management factors when determining whether a corporation has standing to bring a citizen suit.
The term "citizen" in this context is descriptive, not prescriptive. It reflects an understanding that the action is undertaken to further the public interest and is not limited to the plaintiff's private concerns. Entities that are not technically "citizens" regularly bring citizen suits. (E.g., Common Cause v. Board of Supervisors (1989) 49 Cal.3d 432, 439 [261 Cal.Rptr. 574, 777 P.2d 610]; Urban Habitat Program v. City of Pleasanton, supra, 164 Cal.App.4th at p. 1581; see 8 Witkin, Cal. Procedure, supra, Extraordinary Writs, § 84, pp. 970-973, citing cases.) Absent compelling policy reasons to the contrary, it would seem that corporate entities should be as free as natural persons to litigate in the public interest. (See Green v. Obledo, supra, 29 Cal.3d at p. 145 [public interest exception "may be outweighed in a proper case by competing considerations of a more urgent nature"].)
The Carsten court's reference to "the neutrality of citizenship" was a rhetorical flourish designed to highlight the fact that the plaintiff in that case was a member of an administrative board who disagreed with a board decision. Thus, her challenge to the decision was motivated by interests arising from her service on the board, rather than by broader public concerns. (Carsten v. Psychology Examining Com., supra, 27 Cal.3d at p. 799; see also Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc., Local Assessment Com. v. County of Kern, supra, 44 Cal.App.4th at p. 354 [members of local assessment committee lacked public interest standing to challenge decisions of agency that appointed them]; Braude v. City of Los Angeles, supra, 226 Cal.App.3d at p. 91 [city council member lacked public interest standing to raise CEQA challenge to council's approval of project].) Carsten did not suggest that neutrality is a necessary prerequisite for public interest standing; indeed, truly neutral parties are unlikely to bring citizen suits. "The purpose of a standing requirement is to ensure that the courts will decide only actual controversies between parties with a sufficient interest in the subject matter of the dispute to press their case with vigor." (Common Cause v. Board of Supervisors, supra, 49 Cal.3d at p. 439, discussing public interest standing.)
The problem the Waste Management court sought to address with its sweeping limitation on corporate public interest standing was a discrete one: an attempt to use CEQA to impose regulatory burdens on a business competitor, with no demonstrable concern for protecting the environment. Such an attempt would be equally improper if launched by an individual. We disapprove Waste Management of Alameda County, Inc. v. County of Alameda,
The city's decision to issue a negative declaration in connection with its plastic bag ordinance is reviewed for "prejudicial abuse of discretion," which "is established if the agency has not proceeded in a manner required by law or if the determination or decision is not supported by substantial evidence." (§ 21168.5; Communities for a Better Environment v. South Coast Air Quality Management Dist., supra, 48 Cal.4th at p. 319.) The majority below concluded: "it can be fairly argued based on substantial evidence in light of the whole record that the plastic bag distribution ban may have a significant effect on the environment." The majority was satisfied from the various
The majority conceded, "[i]t may be that the city's population and the number of its retail establishments using plastic bags is so small and public concern for the environment is so high that there will be little or no increased use of paper bags as a result of the ordinance and little or no impact on the environment affected by the ordinance." However, "the initial study contains no information about the city's actual experience — including, by way of example only: the number of plastic and paper bags consumed; recycling rates; the quantity of plastic bags disposed of in city trash; how the city disposes of its trash; whether plastic bags are a significant portion of litter found; how, when and in what quantities paper and plastic bags are delivered into the city; whether the city has a landfill that would be impacted by any increased paper bag use; whether there are recycling facilities or programs in the city or the surrounding area; and what the likely impact will be of a campaign urging recycling and reusable bag use."
When we consider the actual scale of the environmental impacts that might follow from increased paper bag use in Manhattan Beach, instead of comparing the global impacts of paper and plastic bags, it is plain the city acted within its discretion when it determined that its ban on plastic bags would have no significant effect on the environment.
This does not mean, however, that an agency is required to conduct an exhaustive analysis of all conceivable impacts a project may have in areas outside its geographical boundaries. "`[T]hat the effects will be felt outside of the project area . . . is one of the factors that determines the amount of detail required in any discussion. Less detail, for example, would be required where those effects are more indirect than effects felt within the project area,
The impacts of this project in areas outside Manhattan Beach itself are both indirect and difficult to predict. The actual increase in paper bag use as a result of the ordinance is necessarily uncertain, given that some percentage of local residents may be expected to turn to the city's favored alternative, reusable bags. Moreover, the city could hardly be expected to trace the provenance of all paper bags that might be purchased by Manhattan Beach establishments, in order to evaluate the particular impacts resulting from their manufacture. Accordingly, under the approach we endorsed in Muzzy Ranch Co. v. Solano County Airport Land Use Com., supra, 41 Cal.4th at page 388, the city could evaluate the broader environmental impacts of the ordinance at a reasonably high level of generality.
The city properly concluded that a ban on plastic bags in Manhattan Beach would have only a minuscule contributive effect on the broader environmental impacts detailed in the paper bag "life cycle" studies relied on by plaintiff. Given the size of the city's population (well under 40,000) and retail sector (under 220 establishments, most of them small), the increase in paper bag production following a local change from plastic to paper bags can only be described as insubstantial.
As the city conceded at oral argument, the analysis would be different for a ban on plastic bags by a larger governmental body, which might precipitate a significant increase in paper bag consumption. In the courts below, plaintiff referred to the cumulative impacts the Manhattan Beach ordinance might have in conjunction with similar laws enacted or contemplated elsewhere, including bans in San Francisco and Santa Monica, and possible bans in Oakland, Los Angeles County, and even statewide. (See § 21083, subd. (b)(2); Environmental Protection Information Center v. California Dept. of Forestry & Fire Protection, supra, 44 Cal.4th at pp. 524-525; Sierra Club v. West Side Irrigation Dist. (2005) 128 Cal.App.4th 690, 700-702 [27 Cal.Rptr.3d 223].) The Court of Appeal did not discuss this issue. In any event, we note that Manhattan Beach is small enough that even the cumulative effects of its ordinance would be negligible.
Common sense in the CEQA domain is not restricted to the exemption provided by the regulatory guideline discussed in Muzzy Ranch Co. v. Solano County Airport Land Use Com., supra, 41 Cal.4th at page 380. It is an important consideration at all levels of CEQA review. (See, e.g., Friends of Mammoth v. Board of Supervisors (1972) 8 Cal.3d 247, 272 [104 Cal.Rptr. 761, 502 P.2d 1049]; Martin v. City and County of San Francisco (2005) 135 Cal.App.4th 392, 402 [37 Cal.Rptr.3d 470], citing cases.) Here, common sense leads us to the conclusion that the environmental impacts discernible from the "life cycles" of plastic and paper bags are not significantly implicated by a plastic bag ban in Manhattan Beach.
We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
Cantil-Sakauye, C. J., Kennard, J., Baxter, J., Werdegar, J., Chin, J., and Croskey, J.,
We reiterate our recent admonition that "[t]here are sound reasons to be cautious in borrowing federal standing concepts, born of perceived constitutional necessity, and extending them to state court actions where no similar concerns apply." (Kwikset Corp. v. Superior Court (2011) 51 Cal.4th 310, 322, fn. 5 [120 Cal.Rptr.3d 741, 246 P.3d 877]; see also Environmental Protection Information Center v. Department of Forestry & Fire Protection (1996) 43 Cal.App.4th 1011, 1020 [50 Cal.Rptr.2d 892].)
