Attorney General Rob Bonta weighs in on the Betabel Commercial Development to try and protect tribal cultural resources
SAN BENITO COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday that he is intervening in a lawsuit that challenges the approval of Betabel Commercial Development in order to protect tribal cultural resources.
"In the lawsuit, the Attorney General filed a petition in intervention alleging [San Benito] County's approval of the project's Environmental Impact Report (EIR) violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), including CEQA’s requirement that the county consult with California Native American tribes and address impacts to tribal cultural resources that would be irreparably harmed by the project," wrote the Attorney General's office in a statement.
Located on the ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, the proposed 108,425 square-foot commercial site would be situated within a tribal cultural landscape known as Juristac, which holds significant spiritual and historical value, according to the Attorney General’s office.
The Attorney General's office says that the intervention petition is requesting the court to order San Benito County to withdraw its existing Final EIR, reopen tribal consultation under requirements, fully analyze the project’s impacts on tribal cultural resources and consider feasible mitigation requested by the Tribe.
“Ensuring that California Native American tribes are consulted about a project’s potential impacts to tribal cultural resources is crucial to support thriving tribal communities in the state,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today’s petition challenging the county’s decision to approve the Betabel project, without complying with its consultation obligations with the tribe, seeks to address the potential irreparable harms to the cultural landscape and resources of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band."
According to the Attorney General's office, "San Benito County rushed through its tribal consultation process such that it did not sufficiently consider or address impacts to tribal cultural resources."
The Attorney General's office goes on to say that as a result of the "rushed" process, "several tribal cultural resources were not identified in the Draft EIR, and thus the impacts on those resources were not adequately analyzed or disclosed, and mitigation for those impacts was not considered by the decision-makers or the public. The county’s failure to meaningfully and timely consult with the tribe and its failure to analyze and mitigate impacts to tribal cultural resources violated CEQA."
"For this project, the county with the assistance of Ascent Environmental, Inc. prepared quality a EIR, which was awarded the Association of Environmental Professional Award for Outstanding Environmental Analysis Document for this project, and diligently conducted timely and meaningful tribal consultation before approving the project," responded San Benito County to the allegations. "However, the county respects the role of the opposing parties and the court in ensuring that the project meets all legal requirements, and looks forward to the eventual decision in this matter."
According to the Attorney General's office, the petition alleges that the county violated CEQA because it failed to analyze impacts to all tribal cultural resources in the Draft EIR and adopt mitigation specific to each of these resources in the Final EIR; begin consultation with the tribe within 30 days of their request for consultation; and consult on topics like recommended mitigation measures or impacts on tribal cultural resources.
The Attorney General's office says that Rob Bonta had originally intended to intervene in the lawsuit in San Benito County Superior Court in March 2023, but the court dismissed the lawsuit over the tribe and other petitioners not meeting the CEQA's deadline for filing.
"The tribe and other petitioners appealed that decision, and the Attorney General submitted an amicus brief in support of the appeal," according to the Attorney General's office.
According to the Attorney General's office, the case was sent back to the trial court on December 31, 2024.
A copy of the Attorney General’s motion to intervene, which includes the petition, is available here.
The court's minute order is available here.
