March 13, 2015
Our Environmental Law Society's symposium on the future of CEQA received a nod from the Sacramento Bee today:
Among the most intractable debates of California politics is what to do about the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, the 1970 law regulating the environmental impacts of development projects. Defenders hold it up as a crucial protection, while business interests and local governments are exacerbated by what they see as overly burdensome requirements and abuses of the process to block construction. Political forces as large as Gov. Jerry Brown have been unable to maneuver a comprehensive overhaul of the law.
A day-long symposium hosted by the Environmental Law Society at UC Davis School of Law will explore the challenges and the future of CEQA. Kip Lipper, the Senate president pro tem's chief policy adviser on energy and the environment, kicks things off with a discussion of recent legislative developments. Sessions follow on nontraditional uses of CEQA, the implications of adding consultations with Native American tribes to the law, and how CEQA factors into the development of California's high-speed rail project and efforts to address climate change.
Representatives from the California Air Resources Board, the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Water Resources are scheduled to participate in the symposium, which begins at 9 a.m. at the UC Davis School of Law.
