Chris Elmendorf Profile picture
Jan 2, 2024 16 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Whoa, the NEPA provisions tucked into the new "Clean Electricity & Transmission Acceleration Act" are like a wish list for greenmailers.

There's lots of good in the bill (⤵️), but the NEPA stuff is stunning. Come take a look.
🧵. 1/14.
1. The bill defines "enviro impact" to include not only enviro impacts, but also "aesthetic, historic, cultural, economic, social, or health" effects.

(Whereas CEQA is still about "physical environment"--even in the infamous Berkeley case.
)

/2
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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.
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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 Image
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 Image
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.
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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."

/7 supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/…
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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
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- and there's a new statutory mandate that FERC reimburse NGO intervenors in regulatory proceedings (if intervenor affects the outcome)
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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


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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.*
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"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 Image
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 don't pretend to understand the coalitional politics, but, wow.
/13

seec.house.gov/media/press-re…
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. Image
@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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More from @CSElmendorf

Jul 3
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.

🧵/20.
Three examples:

1⃣ Wash. State rid itself of project-level enviro reviews of urban housing on a 97-3 vote, via normal leg process.

In CA, it required a daring gambit by @GavinNewsom, tying enviro review reform to budget.

/2


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.

/3 Image
Read 22 tweets
Jul 3
"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
Read 26 tweets
Jun 28
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.

🧵/25
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


Read 26 tweets
Jun 26
For years, California environmentalists have been MIA or worse on an absolute no-brainer of green policy: building dense housing near transit.

Are changes afoot? ⤵️

Maybe! But @NRDC's SB 79 support letter also shows persistence of addled Groups-blob thinking.

🧵/14.
First, some context:

- How I came to be an environmentalist without a home in the environmental movement,


/2
- 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,

/3motherjones.com/environment/20…
Read 15 tweets
Jun 25
Further thoughts on the construction-wage provisions of AB 140, the @BuffyWicks & @GavinNewsom budget trailer bill.

🧵/17.
As a matter of principle, I *do not* support industry-specific, let alone task-specific, wage requirements.

I've tweeted that so-called "prevailing wage" rules are the Democratic Party's version of crony capitalism.

/2 Image
I think it's profoundly embarrassing that "intellectuals" with Democratic Party career ambitions won't publicly acknowledge this point.

/3
Read 17 tweets
Jun 25
Joe C. points out that CA housing trailer bill also modifies the Permit Streamlining Act (PSA) in important ways.

I see the PSA provisions as a work in progress, whose ultimate payoff (if any) will depend on future legislative & judicial tinkering. 🧵/15

x.com/CohenSite/stat… x.com/CSElmendorf/st…Image
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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
Read 16 tweets

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