As recently reported in The Recorder (“Why CEQA May Finally Get Its Rewrite,” Nov. 2), developers are proposing major changes to the California Environmental Quality Act. These development interests claim CEQA creates too much uncertainty for the business community, and their solution is to effectively eliminate the public’s opportunity meaningfully to participate in land-use decisions. Both the premise and the proposed solutions are fundamentally misguided.
CEQA was originally enacted in the face of widespread development that threatened extensive environmental harm in California. At the time, there was no mechanism for thoughtful review of the environmental consequences of such development. The proposed wholesale rewrite of CEQA would significantly undermine the benefits secured under this landmark legislation and resurrect the 1960s, an era in which environmental issues were ignored. Are Californians prepared to accept land-use decisions that ignore or even conceal environmental concerns? Will they agree to a process that allows public input only after the fact?
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