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Is It Time To Retire CEQA?

LOS ANGELES-Some experts argue that the 40-year-old California Environmental Quality Act no longer serves as a means to inform, but is being used as a tactic by special-interest groups.

By Carrie Rossenfeld | Updated on September 25, 2012

LOS ANGELES-According to the California Natural Resources Agency, CEQA, or the California Environmental Quality Act, is a statute that requires state and local agencies to identify the significant environmental impacts of their actions and to avoid or mitigate those impacts, if feasible. There has been much talk from the business community about reforming the 40-plus-year old legislation, which can delay the progression of certain projects—among them commercial real estate development. But not everyone is in agreement about just how the law should be reformed or what the purpose of reform should be.

“The law is horribly broken and no longer serves its intended purpose very effectively, but in its ineffectiveness, it supports all kinds of vested interest,” Tim Tosta, land use attorney with McKenna Long & Aldridge here, says to GlobeSt.com. “It really doesn’t help decision-makers understand the environmental consequences of development projects.”

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