#ceqa

[racefortheironthrone]

so looking at the california hsr, would a state building hsr through force account be built faster since you don't have to contract everything out?

Using force account (i.e, direct hiring) would be faster than contracting, but the most significant difference would likely be that it would be much cheaper (which has an impact on speed, because cost overruns and underfinancing has been an issue for building out the California HSR system) than contracting.

However, my understanding is that the two biggest issues that have been responsible for slowing down the build-out of the California HSR system is:

the difficulty of acquiring the land and right-of-ways needed for the route, due in no small part to opposition from the Union Pacific railroad and local landowners.

extensive litigation from self-described environmentalist anti-development groups abusing the CEQA process to block/death-by-a-thousand-cuts a green project aimed at reducing C02 emissions from automobiles and by encouraging sustainable transit-oriented development over suburban sprawl.

So force account would help, but it would not be a panacea for the difficulties that CAHSR has had to labor under lo these many years.

[erebusvincent]

The people vs. CEQA

An initiative that would streamline the California Environmental Quality Act appears to be headed to the ballot.

Fingers crossed.

John Myers of the California Chamber of Commerce says their proposed measure is all about providing certainty to an often unpredictable and indeterminate CEQA process.

The initiative "seeks to provide clarity to the process of building the essential projects California needs," Myers tells Reason. "We're not changing a single environmental law. We are not guaranteeing that projects get built. We're simply trying to provide certainty in how projects get reviewed."

Even so, changing what is currently an amorphous "study everything" law into a checklist of regulatory compliance "would be a huge change," says Christopher Elmendorf, a law professor at the University of California, Davis. "Basically it ends CEQA in anything like the form we've known it."

In the past several years, the California Legislature has pared back CEQA largely by excluding certain types of projects from the law's requirements entirely. But lawmakers have been a lot more reticent to reform what CEQA requires of the projects it still covers.

For instance, last year, lawmakers approved a major CEQA exemption for urban infill housing. But a bill attempting to streamline the CEQA process for projects it still covers died in the Legislature.

"A lot of people saw last year as a huge expenditure of political capital that wouldn't be easy to repeat," says Louis Mirante of the Bay Area Council, a business advocacy group supporting the Chamber's CEQA reforms. "There are more things we should be doing to CEQA than it seems the Legislature is capable of."

[erebusvincent]

CEQA submitting to the abundance agenda will help the environment

The passage of these essential reforms are the opening act in the movement for a sustainable California that builds and provides the fruits

[erebusvincent]

Environmental groups are outraged after Newsom overhauls CEQA

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law two bills that will overhaul the landmark California Environmental Quality Act in an effort to streamline

Womp womp.

This is great news for the state, even if I hate Scott Wiener.

[erebusvincent]

After half a century, California legislators on the verge of overhauling a landmark environmental law

Two bills endorsed by Gov. Gavin Newsom would be the most transformative changes to the California Environmental Quality Act in generations,

This is what dreams are made of.

[erebusvincent]

Could be us but we allow the wealthy to reduce the quality of life for everyone else.

[erebusvincent]

Newsom suspends landmark environmental laws to speed up wildfire prevention efforts

The governor suspended the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act as the state prepares for the summer and fall

Good. We should repeal those laws.

[erebusvincent]

If California can suspend permitting rules after wildfires, it can abolish them

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has this week issued an executive order to spare victims of the Los Angeles wildfires from onerous government p

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has this week issued an executive order to spare victims of the Los Angeles wildfires from onerous government permitting and review requirements as they rebuild their homes and lives. Specifically, he's putting on hold cumbersome rules required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the Coastal Act.

That's smart politics and good policy, but why not take this approach further?

CEQA needs to go. Let this be our year.