Opponents of the World Logistics Center have filed another lawsuit in an attempt to stop a plan to build one of the world’s largest logistics centers in Moreno Valley.
Environmental group Earthjustice filed a lawsuit Friday, July 17, in Riverside County Superior Court challenging the Moreno Valley City Council’s June 16 decision to approve a revised environmental impact report for the proposed 40.6 million-square-foot warehouse complex.
The lawsuit alleges the new report fails to respond to concerns raised about the project, wasn’t properly made available to the public, didn’t consider other means of lowering the complex’s environmental impacts and that the council approved the document without seeing evidence presented by the developer for claims made in the report.
“Yet again, Moreno Valley is rubber-stamping another ill-conceived and unlawful plan,” Earthjustice attorney Adrian Martinez is quoted as saying in a statement released by the organization. “This massive facility will be a climate and air quality disaster, flooding the nearby community with millions of tons of (greenhouse gases) every year. Instead of taking the necessary steps to mitigate these harmful impacts, Moreno Valley is letting the developer evade any responsibility, ignoring the tremendous problems this project will cause.”
The city of Moreno Valley did not respond to requests for comment.
The Earthjustice suit didn’t come as a big surprise to developer Highland Fairview.
“These are the very same special interest groups that have been suing projects in California for decades. They have developed a business model out of litigating nearly every project of any significance under” the California Environmental Quality Act, spokesman Eric Rose wrote in an email. “They litigate housing, infrastructure, road projects, highways, public transportation, shopping centers, state agencies, schools, parks, anything.“
When completed, the World Logistics Center would cover an area equal to about 700 football fields — about 10% of the land in the city. The warehouse complex would be south of the 60 Freeway, between Redlands Boulevard and Gilman Springs Road at Moreno Valley’s eastern boundary.
To offset pollution that would be generated by the project, Highland Fairview intends to buy carbon offset credits, under California’s cap-and-trade program. The purchase would offset vehicle emissions and make the project — on paper — produce zero greenhouse gases. The project also would have to meet required levels of waste recycling, feature electric vehicle charging stations, use solar panels and various energy conservation measures.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the World Logistics Center will generate 400,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, worsening air quality in the area. More than 14,000 truck trips would be made each day from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Moreno Valley, more than 80 miles away.
Riverside County has the second-worst smog in the nation, according to an American Lung Association report released in April.
The project was first proposed in 2012 and approved by the city council in 2015. Earthjustice and other environmental groups sued. In 2018, a Riverside Superior Court judge ruled the environmental review for the project was inadequate. An appeal of that ruling is before the 4th District Court of Appeal. In June, the city council approved a revised environmental review, adding, among other things, the use of carbon off-sets to counterbalance the pollution generated by the project.
Critics say Highland Fairview hasn’t considered other ways to lower the project’s pollution, like using solar power at the center instead of fossil fuels.
Environmentalists are also concerned about the impact the World Logistics Center would have on threatened and endangered animals living in the the San Jacinto Wildlife Area.
None of this dissuades Highland Fairview. The company looks forward to continuing with the development process, Rose wrote, “which unfortunately includes protracted and costly litigation.”
“Sadly, the community that approved the project and strongly supports the World Logistics Center will have to wait longer for the 33,000 local jobs this amazing project which is estimated by the city to produce,” his email concluded.
Moreno Valley had a 14.9% unemployment rate in June, according to California Employment Development Department estimates, with 14,100 people unemployed in the city. That’s exactly average for the state and .1% worse than Riverside County as a whole.
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New lawsuit aims to block planned World Logistics Center in Moreno Valley - Press-Enterprise
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