RIVERSIDE, Calif.— Environmental groups sued Riverside County today for approving a 1.2 million-square-foot warehouse complex without a thorough analysis and without an adequate plan to reduce environmental harms.

The Majestic Thousand Palms warehouse project proposed for the Coachella Valley would increase diesel truck traffic and air pollution in an area that suffers from some of the worst air quality in the country. The project, approved by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors in February, would bring more than 500 diesel truck trips daily to the area. It also would disturb the habitat of the burrowing owl, a species that recently received temporary endangered species protections from the California Fish and Game Commission while a full status review is completed.

“A massive warehouse with hundreds of trucks spewing diesel exhaust is the last thing Thousand Palms needs,” said Frances Tinney, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “All we’re asking is for county leaders to follow the law and take the environmental risks seriously. A project of this scale has the potential to devastate a community, so it’s especially important to hold the logistics industry accountable for their polluting operations.”

Today’s lawsuit says county supervisors violated the California Environmental Quality Act in approving the project. The lawsuit, filed by the Center and the Sierra Club in Riverside County Superior Court, also says the county’s environmental study failed to adequately consider how the project would affect greenhouse gas emissions, housing scarcity and nearby sensitive species.

The proposed warehouse complex is the size of about 22 football fields across 83 acres. The warehouse’s construction and operation could harm a number of sensitive and endangered species, including desert tortoises, golden eagles, California red-legged frogs and burrowing owls.