Oct. 18--Hey! The Sierra Club sued Bakersfield over The Canyons housing development!

OK, it's not exactly the "Who shot J.R.?" surprise ending to our long community nightmare over this project. (Meaning it wasn't unexpected.)

But it's important to understand the underpinnings of this suit so we know what's on the horizon. Because if we don't get our planning act together, we could lose a lot more taxpayer money in similar lawsuits.

"The primary area of contention is global warming," Gordon Nipp, local rep for the Kern-Kaweah chapter of the Sierra Club told me. "There needs to be some mitigation for climate change, and the city is doing none whatsoever."

Before some of you out there start stomping around and gritting your teeth that global warming is a load of enviro-hooey, new state laws mean business on this issue and it would behoove local officials to pay attention to those laws

I've mentioned before how AB 32 (requiring the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020) and SB 375 (requiring cities to plan in a more walkable, public transit-oriented manner) mean the sprawl party is over.

And how the attorney general has shown a hair trigger for suing cities whose general plans don't adhere to those laws.

All that apparently hasn't phased the city of Bakersfield (and to a lesser extent the county of Kern) when it comes to pushing through more business-as-usual developments.

It's true that the details for how to implement AB 32 and SB 375 are still being worked out. But, come on, we know the intent and ignoring it won't make it go away.

Especially with Nipp watching over the city's and county's shoulders.

Or the attorney general's office, which sent two representatives here in early summer for a little howdy-do over our general plan update (still in the works).

Afterward, one of the deputy AGs, Harrison Pollak, sent the city and county a lovely thank-you letter for the kind welcome, he told me.

By the way, he said in his letter, you are currently required under the California Environmental Quality Act to analyze the impacts of global warming and climate change.

"That was contrary to the position the city had taken in letters they had sent," he told me back then.

I'd take that as a fairly direct message if I were the city, kind of like finding a dead fish on your doorstep.

Several months later, however, The Canyons' EIR sailed through the Planning Commission and was OK'd by the City Council last month with zippo for greenhouse gas mitigation.