This award-winning book is a veritable "soup to nuts" guide to CEQA and the environmental review process. It contains easy-to-understand explanations of the key policies, players, procedures, and practices related to CEQA compliance. It takes the reader through the process from the Initial Study and Notice of Preparation all the way to agency decision-making and litigation. The book also explains how to prepare useful and legally sufficient environmental documents, including Negative Declarations, Mitigated Negative Declarations, and Environmental Impact Reports (EIRs).This edition includes: ¿ All legislative amendments through 2012 ¿ The most recent version of the State CEQA Guidelines, including revisions related to greenhouse gas emissions ¿ Sidebar discussion of key court decisions ¿ Practice tips addressing commonly occurring issues ¿ New and revised flow charts and diagrams explaining important elements of CEQA ¿ Advice about integrating CEQA with NEPA and other environmental laws ¿ Hard-to-find studies of CEQA¿s effectiveness ¿ Pointers for successful compliance