SB
226 Will Worsen Traffic and Air Pollution Across California: Call the
Governor’s Office to Urge a Veto
While many were focused last week on
bills in the legislature to exempt a finite number of development projects
(including the proposed downtown LA stadium) from some requirements under the
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), legislators quietly passed SB 226,
which could do even more lasting damage across the state. The governor should
veto SB 226.
On the surface, SB 226 is innocuous
enough. It is a grab bag of streamlining measures, including for solar energy
projects. But the bill’s “infill” provisions (proposed new California Public
Resources Code Sections 21094.5 and 21094.5.5) are dangerous and destructive.
They would seriously undermine CEQA protections under the law. Specifically,
these provisions would:
- Enable cities and
counties to use decades-old environmental impact reports (EIRs) as the
basis of new zoning decisions, without updating the old EIRs - Allow, if
not require, cities and counties to ignore “growth-inducing impacts”
when approving projects, including impacts on fire service, streets,
schools, parks and libraries - Divorce land
use and transportation planning to induce development – even in areas
where there is insufficient transportation infrastructure to support
growth, or where planned transportation improvements have not yet come
on line - Apply to communities as small as 100,000 people
environmental attorney last week: “The infill provisions in SB 226 are
unacceptable from an environmental perspective … It is a half-baked,
poorly thought out proposal that lacks precision or clarity.”
understatement. The bill will worsen traffic and increase pollution all
across the state, undermining AB 32, California’s landmark greenhouse
gas law, and SB 375, the Sustainable Communities Strategy.
United would support constructive CEQA reform that includes a reasonable
tiering system for environmental review, but this approach is nowhere
near reasonable.
