Newsom Orders Suspension of CEQA for Fire Rebuilds

In a rush to get back to normal – whatever that is – Governor Newsom issued an executive order to suspend permitting and review under both the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the California Coastal Act for anyone rebuilding a home or business lost in the L.A. fires.

There are other things in the Executive Order – it also extends the illegality of price-gouging on rent and building materials, and it calls on agencies to look for additional rules and codes that could be suspended to expedite rebuilding.

Newsom said this is to allow people to rebuild quickly “without roadblocks.” It’s completely understandable that people will want to rebuild their homes and businesses, and it’s understandable that the Governor would want to at least seem to remove obstacles for people who have suffered devastating losses.

CEQA is blamed, sometimes rightly so, for causing delays and contributing to rising costs, including for housing construction, and has been used as a cudgel to stop projects that people don’t want near them. But CEQA is also one of the few tools California residents have for raising important questions about projects, such as: is rebuilding a similar sized house (no more than ten percent larger) in “substantially” the same location in a fire-prone area – or on a beach, or on an eroding cliff – really a good idea?

Instead of actually reforming CEQA so it cannot be used to stop beneficial projects that some people don’t like, state leaders have tended to create exceptions for CEQA to “streamline” certain projects and certain kinds of projects – famously, for example, sports stadiums. There probably won’t be any loud objections to this executive order because on the surface it looks like good government – it looks like it’s removing barriers to a quick recovery.

But is it? CEQA exists to protect the state’s environment and should be used for things like preventing homes from being rebuilt in the most fire-prone areas.

This executive order sure seems like a wasted opportunity. Why be in a hurry to jump in and suspend environmental rules, of all things?

Besides, suspending CEQA and Coastal Commission rules is no guarantee of a fast rebuild. Other, much bigger obstacles will make things more difficult than just getting permits. Insurance, for example – those without it will be out of luck. Shortages in the supply of labor and materials are real, and will not be solved by suspending CEQA or declaring illegal price-gouging to be… illegal.

Displaced residents will have a hard time. Some of them will become discouraged and end up moving away. The same scenario played out in places where fires decimated communities in Santa Rosa, Paradise, the Oakland Hills – how many of those communities are what they were before? Altadena and Pacific Palisades have been utterly transformed, permanently, and there’s no going back to “how it used to be.”

It just seems like it would be wise to take a step back and think about environmental consequences, especially before rebuilding along cliffs and beaches that will soon enough be susceptible to other climate pressures.

At the very least maybe we should let the smoke clear first.