Construction on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, which was rebuilt following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. (Photo: Karin Hildebrand Lau, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Thoughtful planning and robust public participation are essential to successful infrastructure development. Our state is lucky to have the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to help us get it right. CEQA may be our most misunderstood statute.
Students pass through Sather Gate, which leads from Sproul Plaza to the center of the UC Berkeley. (Photo: David A Litman, via Shutterstock)California’s premier environmental protection law was at the core of a fierce dispute between UC Berkeley and its surrounding neighborhoods — and the neighborhoods won. On Thursday, the state Supreme Court decided in their favor, saying that the university’s plan to build more student housing ran afoul of the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, which requires projects to undergo extensive environmental and legal review before proceeding.
Sacramento, K Street The measure, SB 743, was offered as a district bill sought by Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, for a local project to make the city attractive to the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. Gov. Brown later signed the measure. But SB 743 actually has statewide implications and the exemptions could affect cities seeking to build projects – sports related or otherwise — in transit priority areas on so-called “infill development” sites.(Photo: Steve, Wikimedia)
When California’s Environmental Quality Act captures public attention, it’s usually because of a struggle between developers and business interests on one side and environmentalists on the other.
But for the Native American community, CEQA has a deeper significance: It is viewed as a tool in maintaining the tribes’ cultural heritage when their land has been
California’s landmark Environmental Quality Act — the brainchild of Republican lawmakers trying to woo a then-new voting bloc of “environmentalists” — turns 43 this year.
Critics, led by developers and business interests, say CEQA’s requirements are too cumbersome. It subjects all commercial and residential projects – regardless of environmental merit — to costly delays,
“Clearly, Gov. Brown is adamant about rewriting the California Environmental Quality Act. But why? What’s he got against CEQA? Other than developers, who is he scoring points with?”
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It’s the economy, stupid!
He is scoring points with those people that feel environmental regulation has become unreasonable in some areas. His experience as Mayor of
Policy wonks are abuzz with debate about not whether, but how, the California Environmental Quality Act should be reformed. A full-scale effort is underway to paint this landmark environmental law as broken. Implications abound through selective sampling and anecdotes that CEQA does more harm than good. Our experience, and that of our constituents, tells a
California’s core environmental protection law, a 43-year-old statute frequently denounced by developers and business interests as a tangle of red tape, is on a Capitol hit list once again.
But the political dynamic this year is unusual: Those pushing hard for change are Democrats, including Gov. Brown, the Senate and Assembly leaders and a