Court Rejects Coal Canyon Suit : Environment: Judge says state has no authority to use the legal system to protect natural resources from a housing development.

Ruling that California’s wildlife agency has no authority to use the courts to protect natural resources from development, a judge has dismissed a state lawsuit that attempted to prevent a large housing tract from being built in Coal Canyon.

The decision by Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray sent waves of concern rippling through the state Department of Fish and Game. Because the ruling came from a trial court, it sets no legal precedent. But wildlife officials worry that other developers will use the same tactic to derail the state in those rare instances when it sues to block a project.

Without the right to use civil courts, state wildlife officials would have only an advisory role in local development, and could take action only if endangered species were present.

“We researched this thoroughly and we’re unaware of any other ruling like this,” said Deputy Atty. Gen. Brian Hembacher, who filed the case on behalf of Fish and Game.

The lush, river-fed canyon, considered one of the most ecologically valuable sites in the region, is a pathway for migrating mountain lions and home to rare Tecate cypress trees and several other sensitive animals and plants.

The Anaheim City Council unanimously granted Hon Development approval in March to build 1,550 homes and a commercial area in the canyon.

A month later, the state sued the city, alleging that it violated the California Environmental Quality Act by ignoring the Department of Fish and Game’s recommendations to scale back the development to protect part of the canyon used by mountain lions.

Attorneys for Hon Development argued that the statute--which requires developers and local governments to avoid or offset environmental impacts--does not explicitly give Fish and Game the authority to sue to enforce it. In a ruling from the bench last week, Gray agreed and dismissed the attorney general’s lawsuit.

Hembacher unsuccessfully argued in court that the agency “holds in trust for the people the wildlife interests of the state” and consequently could sue--just as any individual can--to uphold the law.

A separate suit against the Coal Canyon project, filed by the Sacramento-based Mountain Lion Coalition and several other environmental organizations, remains intact.

The attorney general’s office, which is awaiting the judge’s written decision, is considering an appeal. But Hembacher said it could backfire, because if an appellate court agrees with Gray, it would set a precedent.

The case marked the first time in several years that the state sued to block a development in Southern California using the environmental-quality law. The last case involved a dam on the Colorado River; the state won and the project was eventually canceled.

“No one challenged the authority before. Others just assumed (Fish and Game) had it,” Hembacher said. State wildlife officials say the Hon Development project, called Cypress Canyon, could wipe out many of the 30 to 40 mountain lions that live in the Chino Hills, since Coal Canyon is their only remaining pathway to and from the Santa Ana Mountains.

They also worry that the development could harm an adjacent grove of Tecate cypress that the state preserved last year by paying Hon Development $4 million.

“It’s the last major wildlife corridor between Chino Hills State Park and Cleveland National Forest, and we have good, hard data from collared animals that they travel that corridor,” said Howard Sarasohn, a deputy administrator at Fish and Game. “If you block it, you’re going to impact the passage of those large mammals.”

Fish and Game biologist Mike Giusti said the state agency wasn’t trying to halt the entire project; it was “trying to ensure it was done in an environmentally sound matter.” They would be content, he said, if construction was limited to the western ridge and larger buffers were placed around a stream bed.

Hon Vice President Michael Mohler has called the lawsuit a last-minute attempt to block a project that has been in the works for four years. He said his company has already promised to take steps to preserve resources, including creation of two new paths for the cougars.

Meanwhile, the state is pursuing another idea to preserve Coal Canyon--it is trying to buy it. Appraisers have been hired to determine the value of the land.

“We’re trying to come up with funding to buy the property,” Giusti said. “They are receptive to selling it.”