Nearly every major environmental group in California opposed the bill, which would have modified the state’s signature environmental law to speed up upgrades to power lines. Supporters said it would have helped free the state from fossil fuels and make the grid more reliable, but opponents feared it would damage state parks.
Power companies, racing to meet the state’s ambitious clean-energy goals, are asking lawmakers for some relief from California’s signature environmental protection law so they can upgrade their transmission lines, including at state parks., said to tackle climate change, power companies need to be able to connect solar fields and wind turbines to an upgraded energy grid faster and without as many bureaucratic hurdles.
The same rules that helped environmental groups fight development and polluters in the past are now often used to delay energy projects necessary to wean the country – and California – off dirty fossil fuels.Kim Delfino, lobbyist representing Defenders of Wildlife and the California Native Plant Society
As it stands, CEQA requires developers to pay for an environmental impact report that can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take years to complete.Erica Martin, San Diego Gas & Electric Garcia’s office said CEQA reviews have become a major barrier to upgrading the state’s energy grid. His office cited one 117-mile Southern California powerline project that took five years for officials to review. It had an 11,000-page impact report that evaluated over 100 project “alternatives.” That same project required 70 permits issued by more than two dozen different agencies.
And instead of having other state and local agencies conduct separate CEQA reviews for the entire length of a powerline project, they’d only be obligated to conduct a review for the portion that crosses their jurisdictions. Garcia’s office said that would eliminate up to three years of delays.Visitors walk among a field of flowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in San Diego County on March 28, 2024.
Garcia’s bill would eliminate CEQA reviews for infrastructure upgrades that require a utility to acquire state lands immediately adjacent to existing “right of way” already used for power lines and other energy infrastructure. His office said the actual construction of new transmission towers and other electrical equipment on state property would still require a CEQA review.
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