California Environmental Quality Act

Um, and they want the Air Board to implement very strict regulations, um, that would make it very difficult to operate a traditional coal terminal.

Um, and they also have legislation that's been sponsored by the, um, East Bay Assembly member, Mia Bonta, um, and that would require a new California environmental qu- uh, you know, a new CEQA analysis, a big environmental study to look at the impacts of this potential terminal.

That is, uh, Assembly Bill 40.

Yeah.

I mean, it's interesting to see Mia Bonta turning to CEQA to try to throw up obstacles to this coal terminal, uh, just as a lot of other members of her caucus, like Scott Wiener, uh, have been trying to, to create carve-out out of carve-out in CEQA to let new development, including industrial development, move forward.

Yeah.

You know, um, I think the Democratic Party has, you know, there's a big fight over CEQA.

Um, I think we've, we've gone through a decade now of people sort of demonizing CEQA.

You can take a document that...

I mean, a CEQA report or an EIRR report.

And granted, you have to have a protected account so that it's not public, right? But I mean, it's a public document anyway.

But you can put it in there.

I don't know if...

Did you see the other story about how Gavin Newsom is now trying to get some waivers against Coastal Commission and CEQA for some donor's beautiful property on the water in Santa Monica? I don't know if you've seen that one yet.

So, uh, off...

It, it's just, it, it's literally you're like, "We've bought this guy.

the, the, but people, you know, they look at this housing thing and say, "Well, it's all about the NIMBYs and the YIMBYs." It's so much more than that.

Let me give you a second example, which is, um, in terms of the, the CEQA process.

CEQA is the-

Mm-hmm

...

It's a massive obstacle to getting anything done in California, but one of the main reasons that that's the case is not just the, the act itself and the rules and process contained within it, but the fact that over the years it's b- a private right of action has been attached to it.

Mm-hmm.

So anyone can file a lawsuit using CEQA as a pretext to block anything.

By August, draft legislation was circulating around Sacramento.

It aimed to speed up local permitting, but the crucial detail was that it would have allowed the shipyard to essentially sidestep the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

CEQA is the ultimate boogeyman for California developers, legendary for its ability to add years of red tape even to small developments and environmentally conscious projects like public transit and bike lanes.

The draft bill aimed to get around the law by allowing California River to use a 2008 environmental impact report instead of spending years producing a new one, while also shielding it from future CEQA litigation.

In order to win approval though, the bill needed buy-in from the local legislators.

Ms. Wilson, the assembly member, and Christopher Cabildon, the state senator from Solano County, signaled that they would not support state legislation to help the shipyard without the affirmation of the county's board of supervisors.