SAN DIEGO, Calif. (Legal Newsline)-The California attorney general's office has announced an agreement with the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority aimed at reducing climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.

Under the agreement with Attorney General Jerry Brown, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority will impose a series of anti-pollution measures as it expands Lindbergh Field.

The airport is planning to add 10 terminal gates as well as expand passenger parking lots and aircraft taxiways. Lindbergh Field is the busiest single-runway airport in the nation.

Among other things, the airport will replace its shuttle buses with electric or alternative-fuel vehicles, allow parked aircraft to run off of the airport's electrical grid so the planes can limit fuel emissions and install solar panels on new buildings and paved areas.

"Under this agreement, the San Diego airport will play a key leadership role in helping California meet its aggressive greenhouse-gas reduction targets," said Brown, a Democrat.

The Airport Authority and the attorney general's office negotiated the agreement over several months.

The memorandum of understanding is similar to pacts Brown has reached with other public agencies and companies aimed at helping the Golden State reach its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

"This agreement is another example of how, in the absence of federal action, local government is leading the fight against global warming," Brown said.

Last year, Brown filed suit against San Bernardino County under the state's Environmental Quality Act because in its general plan, the Southern California county did not address concerns of global climate change and air quality.

The lawsuit was settled last August. In a settlement, the county agreed to, among other things, inventorying known, or reasonably discoverable, sources of greenhouse gases in the county and set a target for emissions reductions.

More recently, Brown sued the federal government for the release of court-mandated EPA studies examining greenhouse gases and their affect on public health.

From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo by e-mail at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.