SACRAMENTO, California — California Democrats on Wednesday moved to reinstate some environmental protections they rolled back last year, reopening a fight over how far the state should go in weakening its landmark environmental law.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear on Wednesday introduced amendments to SB 954, which previously was a spot bill, to narrow the California Environmental Quality Act exemption that lawmakers granted last year to “advanced manufacturing facilities,” which range from data centers to lithium mining.
Lawmakers passed the exemption as part of last-minute budget negotiations with Gov. Gavin Newsom in SB 131, a broader CEQA rollback measure that also included exemptions for a wide range of projects including wildfire mitigation and day care facilities. The advanced manufacturing exemption, however, ran into immediate opposition from environmental and labor groups.
“It was truthfully jammed through the Legislature,” Blakespear said about SB 131 at a Wednesday press briefing. “Exempting some of the most environmentally harmful and polluting facilities from the transparency laws and the requirements to mitigate harmful effects through CEQA does not build the clean or abundant future that Californians deserve.”
