By Karah Fisher
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) serves as an environmental bill of rights, ensuring Californians have a voice in the decisions that impact our communities. With unprecedented threats to environmental protections at the national level, now more than ever, it is critical to protect California’s bedrock environmental regulations. That is why we joined a broad coalition of over 120 environmental and conservation organizations to oppose CA SB 607 and its attempt to drastically rollback CEQA. Please consider joining this effort by urging your state representative to oppose SB 607 today.
Taken together, the upcoming oversight hearing, H.R. 521/S.220, and the DOI review of public lands constitute a clear threat to biodiversity and cherished lands, setting the stage for corporate extractive industry interests. These actions threaten millions of acres here in California that CNPS members have worked hard to protect over decades.
What’s at stake?
Under CEQA, public agencies are required to identify and disclose the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project before it’s approved. CEQA can serve as a community’s last line of defense for safeguarding clean air, safe water, healthy ecosystems, and our state’s biodiversity.
The changes outlined in SB 607 are not minor or “technical fixes” to CEQA; they broadly undermine the carefully designed protections that have been in place for over half a century. SB 607 attempts to lower the threshold for requiring environmental impact reports (EIRs), for nearly all private and government projects – not just infill housing projects, as its stated purpose indicates. These changes would apply across the board and limit public oversight on harmful projects.
Act now for native plants
CNPS members and supporters, alongside environmental and community advocates across the state, rely on CEQA to protect the places we care about most. Your state representatives need to hear from you—please urge them to oppose SB 607.
CA SB 607 Opposition Call ScriptClick here for a script to use when telling your representatives why CEQA is an important tool for protecting the places you care about.
Let’s raise our voices to protect one of the most powerful tools at our disposal in the native plant movement. For more information on the CEQA process and how to effectively engage to protect your community and natural environment, go to the CNPS Advocacy Toolkit.
