Law360, New York (June 25, 2015, 1:53 PM EDT) -- While it may seem obvious, a key initial step in the consideration of whether a project may or may not have a significant effect on the environment is the establishment of a "baseline" describing existing circumstances against which the impacts of a proposed project should be measured. Obvious or not, the determination of what constitutes an appropriate baseline has been the subject of numerous judicial decisions, as is often the case with the California Environmental Quality Act. Starting with the logical conclusion that the baseline should consist of the existing environmental setting, different circumstances have been found to modify this seemingly straightforward proposition....