Judge’s ruling puts a halt to L.A. County’s plans at Devil’s Gate Dam
Los Angeles County Department of Public Works officials have been ordered to temporarily suspend all activities pertaining to a multiyear sediment removal project at Devil’s Gate Dam, after a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled last month to decertify portions of the agency’s environmental mitigation plans.
In a March 23 order made in an ongoing lawsuit filed against the county by environmental groups — the Arroyo Seco Foundation and Pasadena Audubon Society — Judge James C. Chalfant decertified segments of the county’s final EIR discussing mitigation measures and the cumulative impact of the dig to biological resources in Hahamongna Watershed Park.
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Chalfant issued a tentative ruling in February against the county’s claim that biological resource impacts of the project would be reduced to less than significant levels. That ruling stated the impact report failed to include enforceable terms to ensure nitrogen oxide emissions from sediment hauler trucks would be reduced to less than significant levels.
Now, county Public Works officials must revise those aspects of the impact report, recirculate the revised document in a 45-day public comment period and hold a public hearing before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, according to Mitchell Tsai, an attorney representing the plaintiffs.
The final EIR was initially certified by supervisors during a Nov. 12, 2014 meeting.
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Sara Cardine, sara.cardine@latimes.com
Twitter: @SaraCardine
