Supercenter suit

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit against a Southern California municipality over a proposed large-scale retail complex with a 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenter.

Opponents of the 520,000-square-foot retail complex are challenging the city of Perris’ approval of the project on the grounds that it fails to consider measures to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. The local government is required by the California Environmental Quality Act to assess and reduce significant environmental impacts of all new projects, says the group.

The center’s attorney, Matt Vespa, claims Wal-Mart’s annual world-wide greenhouse-gas emissions are nearly equal to half of the emissions of the entire state of California. “Wal-Mart’s public-relations department wants you to believe the company is aggressively fighting global warming,” he said, “but … their project fails to meet even the minimum standards required by California law.”