The Intersection of CEQA & the Cannabis Industry
May 26, 2020
Moderator, Bar Association of San Francisco, CLE Webinar
Downey Brand environmental law and land use attorney Natalie Kirkish will be moderating a CLE Webinar on May 26, 2020. The panel will address how the California Environmental Quality Act can mitigate the environmental impacts of legal cannabis in California. Topics include an overview of CEQA, CEQA compliance for local agency cannabis ordinances, CEQA compliance for cultivation licenses, and recent case law interpreting CEQA in the cannabis context.
Please see below for more information and a link to register.
The legal framework for regulated cannabis in California, known as the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (“MAUCRSA”) and state licensing regulations expressly require compliance with the California State Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”). The cannabis industry and local agencies have grappled with how to demonstrate compliance with CEQA while environmentalists have seized the opportunity to use CEQA as a way to mitigate the environmental impacts of the industry. This panel brings together cannabis industry and environmentalist perspectives to discuss whether CEQA compliance can achieve environmental protection from the impacts of this newly regulated industry or whether the cost of compliance will become a barrier for the industry. The panel will provide an overview of CEQA and discuss how this often litigated area of law has been applied to the emerging cannabis industry.
Moderator:
- Natalie Kirkish, Downey Brand
Speakers:
- Laural Del Castillo, Eden Enterprises
- William P. Parkin, Wittwer Parkin
The webinar is presented by The Environment, Land Use and Real Estate Section as well as the Cannabis, Alcohol and Regulated Industries Section of the BASF Barristers Club.
Please visit the event site here for more information and to register.