The Fifth District Court of Appeal (Appellate Court) has once again ruled in favor of Sierra Club and League in their 2011 environmental lawsuit against Fresno County for the approval of a 2,500-unit residential development near the community of Friant called Friant Ranch. On December 22, the Appellate Court officially disposed of the Friant Ranch case by ordering as follows: “For purposes of clarity in subsequent proceedings, the superior court is directed to promptly issue an amended peremptory writ compelling County to (1) vacate its decision to approve the Friant Ranch project, which includes the approval of General Plan Amendment No. 511 (2) void its decision to certify the completion of the final EIR, and (3) not approve the project before preparing a revised EIR, circulating the revisions to the EIR, and certifying the completion of the revised EIR.” Should it choose to do so, Friant Ranch L.P. has until the first week in January to petition the California Supreme to review the Appellate Court’s disposition of the case. Previously on November 24 the Appellate Court had affirmed that prior to revising the project’s environmental impact report (EIR) and reconsidering project approval, the County would need to first decertify the EIR and set aside all project approvals. In an earlier 2014 ruling, the Appellate Court directed the County to revise the air quality section of the EIR to more thoroughly analyze the effects that project air emissions would have on human health, and in 2018 the California Supreme Court upheld that order. Appellate court opinions are certified for publication when they advance new interpretations of particular statutes or otherwise make significant contributions to legal literature. Published cases can then be cited as precedent in other legal proceedings. The Appellate Court chose to publish only a small portion of its November 24 opinion. Believing the entire opinion worthy of publication, Sierra Club, League and nine other parties requested that the Appellate Court publish its opinion in full. The Appellate Court denied that request. As a result, the California Supreme Court will decide whether the opinion should be published in full, in part or not at all.