Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Opposition Mounting to Newsom's Plan for Streamlining Big California Projects
By admin
Published 2 years ago on
May 28, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Gavin Newsom is fond of proclaiming “big hairy audacious goals,” having borrowed the term from a book on successful corporate leadership.

However, he has not been particularly successful in delivering on his promises of bold, transformative action – such as single-payer health care for all Californians or constructing 3.5 million new housing units.

Dan Walters with a serious expression

Dan Walters

CalMatters

Opinion

The hairiest and most audacious of Newsom’s goals is converting California’s massive economy – the fourth largest in the world, according to recent estimates – into one that booms while reducing its carbon footprint to zero in the next 22 years.

It would involve, among other things, shifting 30 million cars and trucks from gasoline or diesel power to electricity or hydrogen and abolishing gas-fired power plants in favor of solar, wind or thermal generation.

Such massive conversions are technologically doable, but they would be very expensive for consumers, utilities and governments. They would require a lot of construction projects, such as solar and wind farms, with some of the latter offshore.

Newsom says the state is planning to spend $180 billion over the next decade on projects to decarbonize the state’s economy and make its water supply less precarious, much of it from the federal government. However, he laments, the ability to deliver those public works is hampered by red tape, including the misuse of the California Environmental Quality Act by project opponents.

“The question is, are we going to screw it up by being consumed by paralysis and process?” Newsom said last week while announcing a package of legislation aimed at speeding up project delivery. “We’re here to assert a different paradigm, to commit ourselves to results.”

Newsom made his announcement at a solar energy farm in the San Joaquin Valley, citing it as an example of the kinds of projects his proposal would affect.

If approved by the Legislature, Newsom’s package would extend to major public works projects, including a very controversial water tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and a big reservoir, Sites, in the Sacramento Valley, the same kind of fast-track permitting that the state has given to sports arenas.

“I love sports,” Newsom said. “But I also love roads. I love transit. I love bridges. And I love clean energy projects like the one we’re seeing here. It’s not just about stadiums. And we’ve proven we can get it done for stadiums. So why the hell can’t we translate that to all these other projects?”

Significantly, however, Newsom’s proposal to speed up CEQA’s process on big public works projects excludes housing, a field where the law has been obviously misused to delay or kill much-needed developments.

While administration officials say that CEQA reforms could indirectly benefit housing by reducing the volume of information that must be gathered, Newsom obviously doesn’t want a direct confrontation over the law’s application to housing, the shortage of which has exacerbated poverty and the state’s homelessness crisis.

The housing exclusion is drawing fire from pro-housing groups such as California YIMBY. Defenders of Wildlife, along with the Natural Resources Defense Council and more than 70 other conservation organizations immediately published an opposition letter. Opponents of specific projects, such as the Delta tunnel – which has been on the list of proposed public works for at least 60 years – are likewise angered.

With opposition mounting, the package is not a slam dunk in the Legislature, even though Newsom offers it in the form of budget “trailer bills” that can be enacted without the scrutiny that most legislation must endure – a misuse of process unto itself.

Newsom may be staking his governorship on procedural changes needed to make decarbonization, his biggest goal, a reality.

About the Author

Dan Walters has been a journalist for nearly 60 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. He began his professional career in 1960, at age 16, at the Humboldt Times. For more columns by Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.

Make Your Voice Heard

GV Wire encourages vigorous debate from people and organizations on local, state, and national issues. Submit your op-ed to rreed@gvwire.com for consideration. 

 

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Man Convicted of Child Molestation During Burglary Faces Life Without Parole

DON'T MISS

What Local Politicians, LGBT Community Say About Trans Track Star

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Arrested After Stolen City Vehicle Pursuit, Fires in Madera County

DON'T MISS

Former MLB All-Star Breaks Ground on BMW/Porsche/Audi Dealership in Clovis

DON'T MISS

Fresno, Clovis to Open Cooling Centers as Temperatures Expected to Soar

DON'T MISS

Costco Misses Quarterly Revenue Expectations Amid Reduced Consumer Spending

DON'T MISS

Tulare County Authorities Respond to Double Shooting in Goshen

DON'T MISS

US Appeals Court Reinstates Trump Tariffs, Sowing Market Confusion

DON'T MISS

A Program Paying CA Jurors $100 a Day Would End Due to Newsom’s Budget Cuts

DON'T MISS

Some Glaciers Will Vanish No Matter What, Study Finds

UP NEXT

‘I’m Really Scared’: Elderly and Disabled Californians Could Lose Medi-Cal Over $2,000 Limit

UP NEXT

California’s War Over Charter Schools Rages On in Court

UP NEXT

California Avocado Growers Say Mexican Imports Have Helped Their Sales

UP NEXT

CA Changes Track-and-Field Championships After Trans Athlete’s Success. What to Know

UP NEXT

Republican Vote Against EV Mandate Felt Like an Attack on California, Democrats Say

UP NEXT

The Pacific Coast Highway Is a Mythic Route Always in Need of Repair

UP NEXT

Why Did the California Senate Shunt a Cost-Cutting Housing Bill?

UP NEXT

California Opens Track-and-Field Finals to More Girls After Success of Trans Athlete

UP NEXT

PG&E Sees Surge in AI Data Center Interest With Fresno Area Emerging as New Hotspot

UP NEXT

SF-Based Salesforce Is Buying Informatica in $8 Billion Deal

Former MLB All-Star Breaks Ground on BMW/Porsche/Audi Dealership in Clovis

7 hours ago

Fresno, Clovis to Open Cooling Centers as Temperatures Expected to Soar

8 hours ago

Costco Misses Quarterly Revenue Expectations Amid Reduced Consumer Spending

8 hours ago

Tulare County Authorities Respond to Double Shooting in Goshen

8 hours ago

US Appeals Court Reinstates Trump Tariffs, Sowing Market Confusion

8 hours ago

A Program Paying CA Jurors $100 a Day Would End Due to Newsom’s Budget Cuts

8 hours ago

Some Glaciers Will Vanish No Matter What, Study Finds

9 hours ago

Dealmaker or Duped? Trump’s Embrace of Putin Shows Few Results

9 hours ago

Fresno Will Build New Firehouse, Replacing ‘Temporary’ Station After 50 Years

9 hours ago

Canada Wants to Kill 400 Ostriches. RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz Want to Save Them.

9 hours ago

Tulare County Man Convicted of Child Molestation During Burglary Faces Life Without Parole

A Tulare County jury has convicted a Porterville man of molesting a 4-year-old girl during a home burglary in 2020, prosecutors said Thursda...

6 hours ago

Serafin Narcisco, 44, of Porterville, was convicted on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, of molesting a 4-year-old girl during a 2020 home burglary. (Tulare County SO)
6 hours ago

Tulare County Man Convicted of Child Molestation During Burglary Faces Life Without Parole

6 hours ago

What Local Politicians, LGBT Community Say About Trans Track Star

A man accused of stealing a City of Fresno vehicle was arrested Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Madera County after a pursuit that sparked small fires and ended with a crash. (Madera County SO)
6 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested After Stolen City Vehicle Pursuit, Fires in Madera County

7 hours ago

Former MLB All-Star Breaks Ground on BMW/Porsche/Audi Dealership in Clovis

8 hours ago

Fresno, Clovis to Open Cooling Centers as Temperatures Expected to Soar

8 hours ago

Costco Misses Quarterly Revenue Expectations Amid Reduced Consumer Spending

Tulare County sheriff’s detectives are investigating a double shooting in Goshen after two people were found wounded Thursday, May 29, 2025. (Tulare County SO)
8 hours ago

Tulare County Authorities Respond to Double Shooting in Goshen

8 hours ago

US Appeals Court Reinstates Trump Tariffs, Sowing Market Confusion

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend