ACTION ALERT: It’s Now or Never For the California Environmental Quality Act

Right now, in Sacramento, a bill is making its way through the legislature that will fundamentally change the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the worse. Since 1970 CEQA has been California’s bedrock environmental law. Environmental nonprofits like EPIC as well as everyday Californians rely on CEQA to understand proposed projects in their communities and, when necessary, use CEQA to oppose bad projects like Richardson’s Grove and to improve others like the Nordic Aquafarms project. Now, a proposed bill would significantly hamper the ability to do that.

The”Fast & Focused CEQA Act,” also known as SB 607 (Wiener), would make it easier for agencies to avoid performing rigorous environmental review. Currently, CEQA allows an agency to skip preparing a full environmental impact report and instead to prepare a negative declaration when it believes a proposed project would not have a significant environmental impact. This makes sense and allows agencies to not waste time conducting environmental review on projects that are obviously non-impactful.

But, what happens if an agency conducts a negative declaration but a member of the public believes that a proposed project will have a significant impact that should have been studied and disclosed? Well, under current law and California Supreme Court precedent, if that person can make a fair argument based on substantial evidence that an environmental impact would occur then the agency must instead prepare a more environmental impact report. In other words, CEQA errs on the side of requiring environmental impact reports where there is a fair case to be made that the project would have significant impacts. In many cases, further environmental review may be necessary to determine whether impacts actually are significant. This standard also reflects a consideration that the risk of doing unnecessary environmental review is less important than the risk of leaving environmental impacts undisclosed and unmitigated.

The Fast & Focused CEQA Act would flip this standard on its head. Instead of giving the public the power to make a fair argument that more environmental review ought to occur, the bill would give the agency the power to make a fair argument that no environmental impact would occur and that no additional environmental review is necessary. This new standard, combined with the fact that developers and project proponents have more resources than community members to invest in studies and experts to make “fair arguments” about the need for additional environmental review, would make it far easier for agencies to avoid conducting full environmental impact analyses and mitigating their environmental impacts. Importantly, this new standard would apply to almost all projects proposed in California with narrow carve-outs for oil and gas infrastructure, distribution centers, and projects located on already protected lands like State Parks.

Despite its radical nature, the bill has passed out of both the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and the Senate Local Government Committee. The bill will soon head to the Appropriations Committee and then to the full State Senate. If people don’t speak up for CEQA, this bill will result in one of the most significant changes to the law since it was written.

Click here to send a letter to Senator Mike McGuire for those of you who live in Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, or Mendocino Counties.

You can also use this tool to find your State Senator if you don’t know who that is. If you live in Del Norte, Humboldt, Trinity, or Mendocino Counties, your State Senator is Senator Mike McGuire, and you can find his office’s contact information here. Please take a few minutes to call your senator and ask them to oppose SB 607. If you have a personal story to share about how CEQA has improved the environment around you, now would be a good time to share it. Below is a suggested call script.

Hello, my name is {INSERT NAME}. I live at {INSERT FULL ADDRESS} and I am a constituent in {INSERT REPRESENTATIVE’S NAME} district. I am calling to urge {REPRESENTATIVE’S NAME} to oppose CA SB 607. This bill is a sweeping CEQA rollback. It limits public oversight and transparency. CEQA is an important tool for Californians to have a voice in the decisions that impact our own communities. {INSERT STORY} Please ensure CEQA can continue to protect Californians and the places we care about by opposing SB 607. Thank you for your time and consideration.