Letters to the Editor: CEQA hasn’t been overhauled. That’s good news for Californians

To the editor: In his op-ed article calling for reforming the California Environmental Quality Act, William Fulton does not acknowledge the reason that the law has not been drastically overhauled: It empowers a very broad range of the state’s population, including the most vulnerable.

CEQA is a bill of rights for an environmental, participatory democracy.

In addition to being relied upon by environmental groups, labor unions and community-based organizations, it has also empowered public agencies, Native American tribes and others who are seeking to protect California’s precious environment and resources.

An across-the-board deregulatory approach that fails to encompass the nuances necessary to protect California’s diverse population with its multiplicity of interests is not going to fly in the Legislature, nor should it.

Doug Carstens, Hermosa Beach

The writer is an environmental attorney.

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To the editor: Proponents of big projects dangle the prospect of money (and the threat of not doing the project) to get exemptions from CEQA. Everyone else gets to slog through the process, playing whack-a-mole for every objection and paying dearly for it.

The environment rarely even benefits.

Suggestion: Proponents of a high-profile project agree to exemptions if they also follow CEQA on a parallel path, with commitments to expedited reviews. And they should fund an effort to engage stakeholders to redesign the process as they go. This group would produce recommendations for revisions for the broader benefit.

Douglas Hileman, Valley Glen