October 16, 2023 - Today, a California court overturned approvals for a warehouse project in Moreno Valley, CA, ruling in favor of the Sierra Club and our environmental justice allies. The project proposed more than 395,000 square feet of industrial warehouses that would generate 224 truck trips per day through the surrounding residential community, leading to a significant increase in local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. This ruling results from Sierra Club’s extensive advocacy, in collaboration with environmental justice partners, to limit warehouses’ impacts on communities and climate pollution.
Warehouses cause severe health and safety impacts that disproportionately burden low-income communities of color. A recent report shows that in each of the past three decades, 175 million square feet of warehouse space has been built in the four Southern California counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino. Each new warehouse has increased diesel truck emissions in working class neighborhoods where frontline warehouse workers live and earn median annual wages of only $25,154. These frontline communities experience respiratory distress from long-term exposure to air pollution, and suffer from traffic noise and congestion.
Sierra Club, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, and other groups challenged the warehouse project approvals under the California Environmental Quality Act for failing to adequately review air quality, health, noise, and safety impacts from the project’s construction and operation. Our experts cited the potential for significant diesel emissions and major health risks to schools and homes that would require further study. The court agreed, ruling that the City of Moreno Valley failed to fully assess the project's impacts on air quality, noise, and truck trips before giving it the green light last year. Under the ruling, the City must now set aside the approvals and comply with California Environmental Quality Act before reconsidering the project. Sierra Club and its local partners have pledged to continue pressuring Moreno Valley to prioritize healthier development that protects vulnerable residents.
The lawsuit was initiated by the San Gorgonio Chapter, led by longtime warehouse activist George Hague, with support from the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program Managing Attorney Aaron Isherwood, California Field Manager Yassi Kavezade, as well as the Clean Transportation For All Campaign and others.