A lawsuit filed by two neighborhood groups is forcing the City of Los Angeles to rethink the possibility of a fast-track approval of Elon Musk’s Boring Co.’s demonstration tunnel.
The Los Angeles City Council’s Public Works and Gang Reduction Committee in April unanimously passed a motion to exempt the company from a requirement of an environmental review process in advance of its proposed 2.7-mile tunnel under Sepulveda Boulevard, from Pico Boulevard at the north to Washington Boulevard at the south.
The 2.7-mile stretch is intended as a demonstration to show the company has the ability to build tunnels as basic infrastructure for transportation systems. Boring Co. has suggested it would complete an environmental review for larger projects if the demonstration shows sufficient promise, but it hasn’t made any formal commitment.
The Brentwood Residents Coalition and Sunset Coalition neighborhood groups nonetheless challenged the city’s environmental exemption on the 2.7 mile demonstration in a lawsuit filed May 2 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The move has gotten the attention of City Attorney Mike Feuer, who wants to pump the brakes before a vote of the full City Council – which would be the typical next step in the process.
A May 15 letter from Feuer to the City Council asked for a closed session of the council to discuss the suit. Bodies of publicly elected officials can meet in private to discuss matters deemed worthy of confidential consideration, including lawsuits and personnel matters, among others.
Veteran advocate
The lawyer who brought the complaint, John Given of Santa Monica, is seasoned in tangling with businesses over environmental impact review.
And the Brentwood Residents Coalition and Sunset Coalition, whose members live adjacent to the tunnel project site, have persisted – if not prevailed – in recent legal battles, including a 2015 fight in which they said expanding the Archer School For Girls would cause too much traffic.
The group’s lawsuit on the project demands Boring Co. submit the demonstration tunnel to an environmental review administered under the California Environmental Quality Act, commonly known as CEQA.
“I think the city may have trouble defending this exemption,” said Damon Mamalakis, a lawyer at Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac, a Los Angeles law firm that represents businesses in environmental disputes. “Here we have a very innovative project that wasn’t contemplated when the CEQA guidelines were established.”
Mamalakis said the city and Boring Co. could end up spending a year in litigation and be subject to a judge’s ruling. An order for environmental impact review could last two years.
Boring Co. declined comment on the matter.
Unusual exemption
The company previously submitted a 1,500-page study to the city’s Bureau of Engineers that found the project would not cause significant traffic, noise, air or water pollution. That study lead to the Bureau recommendation that they receive an environmental exemption.
The City Attorney’s office declined comment as well, beyond acknowledging Feuer’s brief letter seeking a closed city council session.
The lawsuit’s central point is that the city’s public works committee approved a motion for an “infill” exemption, an environmental review exemption that the CEQA website defines as applicable to “Environmentally benign projects that are consistent with the local general plan and zoning requirements.”
The infill exemption is most often used with residential buildings, and it is almost never used for novel projects.
“Never in my wildest dreams would this particular exemption be used for this type of project,” Given said.
The lawsuit echoes complaints from local environmentalists – including representatives of the Natural Resources Defense Council – that any novel project must go through an environmental impact review. Opponents contend the city should not wait for a more fully fleshed out tunnel project to see what effects it might have on the environment.
Given said that his clients have never spoken with officials of the two-year-old Boring Co., and it is unclear if the company might become more active publicly in a bid to keep the demonstration tunnel afloat.
Musk himself made a rare public appearance at a West Side synagogue May 17, a ticketed event pertaining to Boring Co. Priority seating was given to those who bought flamethrowers that Boring Co. briefly sold.
