2. The bill creates utterly open-ended authority for fed. agencies to demand a "community benefit agreement" as price of any permit for which an EIS was prepared.
This converts NEPA from procedural statute into grant of substantive reg / exaction authority.
/3
In exercising the "community benefit agreement" authority, what is a federal agency supposed to consider?
Consideration #1 is the deepness of the permit-applicant's pocket. Seriously.
/4
And in case the new, expansive definition of "enviro impact" wasn't clear enough, the bill adds that CBAs may be imposed to offset any *social or economic* (as well as enviro) impacts of the project.
/5
In fact, the bill says an agency can impose a CBA not just to mitigate adverse effects of the project, but "to address legacy or historical harm" with, e.g., local-hire requirements.
/6
3. The bill would also destroy the caselaw that limits scope of enviro review to scope of agency's regulatory discretion, not only via the CBA provision but also by expressly requiring analysis of effects "not within control of any federal agency."
4. And the bill would send a torrent of federal dollars into the coffers of groups who'd exploit NEPA for labor or other side hustles.
- there's $3 billion of "community engagement" grants to arm nonprofits & others
/8
- and there's a new statutory mandate that FERC reimburse NGO intervenors in regulatory proceedings (if intervenor affects the outcome)
/9
5. And in case NEPA turned up to 11 isn't enough, there's also a new, judicially enforceable mandate for "community impact reports" if a project may affect an "environmental justice community."
/10
6. There's also a wild provision that seems to prevent federal agencies from considering any project alternatives in an EIS unless (a) the alternative would have no adverse impact on any "overburdened community," or (b) it serves a compelling interest *in that community.*
/11
"Overburdened communities" are defined, in turn, not as communities burdened by the project, or by legacy pollution, but by race, poverty, or language-minority status.
(CJ Roberts & Co. may find the race piece unconstitutional, but the rest would stand.)
/12
The biggest shocker for me is that this bill has the backing of the old "New Democrats," not just the left wing of the Dem coalition.
I should add that I know NEPA less well than CEQA. Maybe I'm misreading or misunderstanding something in the bill.
Let's hope better minds will find my errors.
@nicholas_bagley @dfarber @jadler1969 @AA_Mance @CarolineCecot @EnergyLawProf @AlecStapp @TDuncheon
/end
One more observation: the bill subtly nudges NEPA toward super-statute status by directing conflicts b/t NEPA "and any other provision of law" to be resolved in favor of NEPA.
@drvolts, @robinsonmeyer: I'd love to hear your thoughts on the CETAA draft that dropped last month. (Apologies if I missed your coverage.)
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CA deserves its moment in the sun, but journalists should be paying more attention to the amazing Abundance policies -- and better Democratic politics -- of our neighbors to the north.
Washington State is killing it. Oregon's doing pretty well too.
2⃣ In 2002, CA repealed parking minimums near "major transit stops." But the bill gives local govts wiggle room to re-impose parking mandates unless the project meets certain targets for deed-restricted-affordable housing.
"Can you put a rough number on how much California's CEQA reforms will increase housing production?"
I've gotten this Q from lots of journalists over the last 48 hours (who sound frustrated w/ my answer), so here's a 🧵 laying out my thinking about it.
1/25
tl, dr: @GavinNewsom was right to call AB 130/SB 131 "the most consequential housing reform in modern history in the state of California" -- but even so, there's no defensible way to give a quantitative "this much more housing" answer to the reporters' question.
/2
In part, the CEQA-reform package is consequential b/c of what it signifies: that California is overcoming the seemingly intractable politics of a high-cost, low-supply equilibrium.
/3
An update on California's CEQA / housing package as we hurtle toward the finish line.
tldr: @BuffyWicks's CEQA infill exemption is now *even better* than the 6/24 draft ⤵️; and it looks like @Scott_Wiener will land most of the fish in SB 607 but not the real lunker.
The million dollar (million unit?) question about Wicks's infill exemption has always been, "Will labor unions extract wage concessions that render the bill ineffective?"
/2
The 6/24 bill draft featured a novel, two-tier minimum wage for construction workers, plus "prevailing wage" requirements for tall projects (>85'), 100% affordable projects, and certain projects / crafts in San Francisco.
/3
- How CA enviros were duped or white-guilted into letting greenfield developers get their dream policy enacted, even as the same orgs continued to fight infill housing,
The big idea of the PSA is that if a city doesn't approve or deny a project w/in defined period of time, the project becomes "automatically approved" by operation of law.
However, opponents can attack it in court if project didn't comply w/ applicable rules.
/2
That is, a project which has been "deemed approved" by operation of PSA is not "deemed to comply" with applicable zoning & development standards. (Though certain provisions of the HAA may render project "deemed compliant" too.)
/3