Tag Archives: Environmental review

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Forever, Economy, Elizabeth Patterson, Environmental review, Just transition, Solano County Maritime

Elizabeth Patterson on CEQA, etc… ‘Look Before You Leap’

September 26, 2026 BenIndy

Look before you leap

By Elizabeth Patterson, first appearing in The Benicia Herald, September 13, 2026

Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Mayor 2007 – 2020

“Look before you leap” describes the reason for California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Before a project is built it is wise and thoughtful to determine impacts to air and water quality, wildlife habitats including terrestrial and aquatic species. And for many what are the impacts from traffic, water supply, noise – a public health issue often ignored by decision makers.

California Forever pounded the hallways of California legislature in August to get Solano County Senator and Assembly member to sponsor CF’s proposed bill aided and abetted by the Governor’s Go Biz office. The proposed bill would use 2008 Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the County General Plan. Why wait until August to introduce this so-called trailer bill? The answer is to avoid public review through the appropriate legislative committees and to use the power of the Governor’s office to wield their billionaire influence. Sound familiar?

Senator Cabaldon noted that the 2008 General Plan EIR spelled out clearly that any “water related industrial project” would require a full CEQA assessment for potential impacts. This is why the Senator among other concerns never endorsed the proposed legislation.

Assembly Member Wilson would not support the legislation without the Solano County Board of Supervisors signing on. They didn’t. And they didn’t because of multiple reasons including the last-minute California Forever steamrolling approach. “I am not afraid of the Governor” said Supervisor Mitch Mashburn. Board Chair Brown said “just say no”.

Mashburn’s motion to consider Solano County Maritime and Manufacturing Act (Solano County Maritime) was “no” this year but next year consider Benicia’s deep water port and revitalizing Mare Island and its dry docks. Will the billionaires do that?

Investing in existing communities such as Benicia and Vallejo means fewer new roads, water pipes, electrical power systems and so on versus the proposed shipbuilding near Collinsville. It means investing private and public resources efficiently and effectively. The ill-conceived Solano County Maritime “shipbuilding” project would take massive amounts of new roads, miles of new water supply pipes, and miles of new electrical power lines. As a note, unless the Investor Owned Utilities and Public Utilities Commission change the rules, these new transmission lines will be part of your electricity energy bill. That is how new development pays for utilities. It is not just the developer or project. The costs are spread around to all of us.

Roads. The Solano Transportation Authority plans projects decades in advance because it must line up resources to pay for the improvements. STA has a list. It has projected funding sources. What California Forever proposes with the shipbuilding project would require limited funds to be redirected and the approved projects list delayed by a decade or so. Read STA’s comments on the notice of preparation for the EIR for the Suisun City Expansion project. Legislative rumors have it that CF suggested diverting available funding from SR 37 to apply to SR 12. It is hard to believe such rumors.

Investing in existing communities means where people live and work. And it means avoiding significant impacts to tidal marshlands of the Sacramento River in the Delta. Some of those impacts include harm from dredging especially if the existing ship channel is dug deeper. The Army Corps of Engineers through numerous studies identify that dredging the channel deeper could result in the channel walls collapsing because the sediment from hydraulic mining is weak. Furthermore, the ACOE identified that a deeper channel would enable more salt water into the Delta where farmers pump to irrigate their crops.

The Bay-Delta is the heart of California’s water system. It supports some of the state’s most iconic and threatened fish and wildlife, sustains tribes and other local communities, and provides water for nearly 30 million Californians and 4 million acres of farmland. These benefits are essential to the economy and environment.

It would be helpful to understand all of this which is what a full CEQA review would provide.

Some have said that the proposed legislation to by-pass CEQA and local government adopted policies would still allow County discretionary decision making. Nope. Read the draft legislation to note that after the project is designed, the county would issue permits – permits which are ministerial – meaning adhering to adopted standards. There would be no mitigation measures because there would be no identified impact because there is no CEQA.

Furthermore, all the important decisions of project design are made by the developer and the proposed development agreement is meaningless because there is nothing to negotiate. And even with a development agreement, things happen such as bankruptcy leaving government holding the empty promises.

Imbedded in the failed CF legislation was a device to solve issues between agencies. For instance, if STA disagreed with CalTrans, there was a proposed “master” who would decide. This proposed master would be appointed by Land Use and Climate Innovation whose members are appointed by the Governor. Want to guess how that decision would go?

It is true that there are many governmental agencies with decision making : air quality districts, water quality and water supply agencies, federal, state, regional and local transportation agencies, PUC, fish and wildlife, Delta Protection Commission, Delta Stewardship Council, NOAA, and Department of Defense – it is a long list. Because things are complicated, expertise, knowledge and oversight are needed to secure public health, safety and welfare and the Public Trust Doctrine.

It is said that CEQA and the complications of getting approval are ruinous for California. Really? CEQA has been law since 1970. More than 50 years. And California is the 4^th largest economy in the world. Something must be working. I suggest it is the “looking before you leap” that has had a net positive benefit. Other benefits are cleaner air, better water quality, many habits protected, better transportation planning and less reliance on fossil fuels.

Right here in the river City of Benicia are opportunities for ship repair and maritime activities, expanding tourism and visitors as a perfect place to explore the Delta National Heritage Area of which we are a part. Invest in Benicia. Reduce our carbon footprint. Restore our fisheries. And do it with the public. Perhaps the billionaires will reflect on their attempts to get favorable treatment and remember Winston Churchill’s “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other forms that have been tried”. The billionaires “cram it down our throats” approach didn’t work. Try public participation and democratic principles.

Elizabeth Patterson, Mayor 2007-2020
State staff environmental scientist, retired

Previously here on this subject:

Walking Back CEQA Protections Will Leave Californians Paying the Price for Ignoring Impacts, by Elizabeth Patterson, July 30, 2024

Concord CA, Discovery Builders, Environmental Impacts, Environmental review, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Pittsburg CA, Save Mount Diablo, Seeno

Seeno attorneys request new trial – Save Mount Diablo says motion “Should be denied”

March 4, 2022 Roger Straw

Seeno’s attorneys request new trial following Save Mount Diablo legal victory against Faria project in Pittsburg hills

The Pittsburg hills where the Faria project has been approved for construction, as seen from the San Marco neighborhood in Pittsburg. Photo: Scott Hein

607-acre, 1,650-home development next to planned Thurgood Marshall Regional Park – SMD leader says motion for new trial “should be denied”

Contra Costa Herald, by Allen D. Payton, March 3, 2022

Last Friday, Feb. 25, 2022, attorneys representing Discovery Builders and their Faria new home development requested a new trial for the lawsuit by Save Mount Diablo, following a judge’s decision in favor of the environmental group to stop the project. As previously reported, on March 30, 2021, Save Mount Diablo filed a lawsuit challenging the City of Pittsburg’s approval of the 1,650-unit Faria project, on the ridgeline between Pittsburg and Concord. According to the agenda item documents, the master plan overlay district encompasses approximately 607 acres of land. (See related article)

The motion for a new trial was filed “on the basis that the Court’s decision is not supported by the evidence and controlling legal authorities. Specifically…that there were several portions of this Court’s February 10, 2022, Statement of Decision that may not have fully considered evidence in the administrative record.” In addition, the motion asks that the “Court vacate its Statement of Decision and enter a new decision denying SMD’s motion” and “conduct a new hearing”. Faria project Motion for New Trial Parsons Dec. ISO Mot for New Trial Raskin Dec. ISO Mot for New Trial Faria project new trial Proof of Service

A hearing date on the motion for a new trial has been set for April 14, 2022.

The now named Thurgood Marshall Regional Park is directly adjacent to the Pittsburg City Council approved Faria project. Herald file graphic. Credit: Save Mount Diablo/Google Earth.

On the day of the decision, Save Mount Diablo issued the following press release about their legal victory: [Previously published here on BenIndy, see Save Mount Diablo Wins Major Legal Victory Against Seeno to Protect Pittsburg’s Hills.]

Save Mount Diablo Says Motion for New Trial “Should Be Denied”

Asked about the motion for a new trial, Save Mount Diablo Executive Director, Ted Clement responded, “Regarding the Seeno companies/Pittsburg request for a new trial, the Court has already rejected their arguments for reasons fully set forth in its decision. Their Motion for New Trial does not question the adequacy of the administrative record on which the Court properly based its decision (and which the City itself prepared) or suggest there was any other irregularity or unfairness in the hearing. Instead, they seek a second bite of the apple.”

“Their Motion reargues issues that were fully briefed and addressed in the Court’s Decision,” he continued. “They also seek to introduce irrelevant and improper extra-record evidence, violating black letter law that CEQA actions must be decided on the record that was before the agency when it made its decision.”

“Because their Motion provides no basis for this Court to order a new trial solely on the issues decided adverse to them, it should be denied,” Clement concluded.

Concord CA, Environmental Impacts, Environmental review, Pittsburg CA, Save Mount Diablo, Seeno

SEENO News: Save Mount Diablo Wins Major Legal Victory Against Seeno to Protect Pittsburg’s Hills

February 23, 2022 Roger Straw

East County Today, Feb 22, 2022

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY — On February 10, 2022, the Contra Costa County Superior Court handed Save Mount Diablo a major victory in its legal challenge to the City of Pittsburg’s approval of the 1,650-unit Faria/Southwest Hills Project.

According to the ruling, the city’s environmental review was inadequate in numerous ways. Faria was proposed by Seeno companies/Discovery Builders, Inc./Faria Investors LLC on the spectacular and highly visible major ridgeline between Pittsburg and Concord and could include grading and houses visible across the ridge.

As a result, the City of Pittsburg is required to overturn approvals for the project and correct environmental review. The city and Seeno/Discovery Builders will also be required to pay Save Mount Diablo’s legal fees.

It remains to be seen whether the developers, Discovery Builders, Inc. and Faria Land Investors, LLC, or the City of Pittsburg will appeal the decision.

The Pittsburg City Council—then-Mayor Merl Craft; then–Vice Mayor Holland Barrett White; and Councilmembers Shanelle Scales-Preston, Juan Antonio Banales, and Jelani Killings—all voted to approve the proposal in February 2021. (The mayor and vice-mayor designations rotate among the councilmembers.) They ignored hundreds of letters and public comments that opposed the project. Save Mount Diablo filed a lawsuit challenging the project’s approval in March 2021.

If the project had moved forward, it would have meant the development of a major, new residential subdivision on 606 acres of ridgeline and hillside grazing land in what is currently unincorporated Contra Costa County, immediately south of the City of Pittsburg.

The biologically rich site supports sensitive wildlife species and rare plants and is in one of the most visible and most environmentally constrained areas of the county. The Faria project would have fragmented open space and damaged wildlife corridors.

The proposed housing development would have changed the beautiful green hills forever by annexing the property to the City of Pittsburg and locating 1,650 new residences far from jobs, transit, and services.

The Faria project would have also impacted the new East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) Thurgood Marshall Regional Park – Home of the Port Chicago 50 at the Faria site’s southwestern edge, formerly part of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Save Mount Diablo and its partners advocated for the creation of this new park over many years. The Faria project would have been located directly above the new park on a ridgeline, degrading views from surrounding areas.

The Contra Costa Superior Court ruled that the City of Pittsburg’s environmental review of the project was inadequate in four major ways:

It failed to analyze any impacts that would results from the 150 accessory dwelling units that were added by the City of Pittsburg at the last minute. This is important because the number of units affects every part of environmental review from traffic to water supply to schools, etc. and will make correcting the environmental review complicated;
It failed to include a baseline description of biological resources that could be impacted by the project, specifically special-status plant species;
It failed to consider the water supply impacts of adding 1,650 new housing units in the area, which is especially important given years of drought and increasing fire danger; and
It failed to adequately disclose or mitigate the project’s air quality impacts, including greenhouse gas impacts, without which development will continue to make the climate crisis much worse.

“The court’s decision says to developers: ‘You don’t get to kick the can down the road. You have to do a thorough analysis of your project’s impacts before you lock in project approvals,’” said Winter King, Save Mount Diablo’s attorney from Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger. “The court got it right.”

The court’s ruling means that the City of Pittsburg’s approval of the project is null and void.

The court also noted that additional impacts—such as geologic hazard impacts resulting from grading and filling, and impacts on streams and agricultural lands—would need to be addressed in more detail.

Save Mount Diablo Executive Director Ted Clement said, “Throughout the East Bay, residents have worked hard to protect our ridges and views, flora and fauna, and to defend our parks. In this case that was just decided in our favor, Save Mount Diablo had to stand up against some very powerful interests to help further the work of protecting these treasured resources, which add so much to our collective quality of life.”

“Although I’ve worked for Save Mount Diablo on this issue, I’m also a Concord resident,” said Juan Pablo Galván Martínez, Save Mount Diablo’s Senior Land Use Manager. “This project infuriated me as an open-space lover, a wildlife enthusiast, and someone who is deeply worried and taking action to stop catastrophic climate change. Since this affects both cities, I want both city councils to work together to protect the hills and ridgeline.”

“This is a major victory for Pittsburg’s hills,” stated Save Mount Diablo Land Conservation Director Seth Adams. “Open space, habitat for wildlife, and the community’s scenic views have won the day, and poorly planned development will not go forward, for now. We are very happy with the court’s decision.”

“On the other hand,” said Adams, “while our victory is costly for the city and Seeno/Discovery Builders in time and money, it does not stop the project forever. After correcting environmental documents, the Pittsburg City Council can approve Seeno’s huge project again if they choose. But now they have a second chance to make it better by protecting the ridgeline and neighboring regional park. We don’t have to argue about protecting ridgelines in other cities. The Pittsburg City Council should do the right thing.”

Save Mount Diablo

Save Mount Diablo is a nationally accredited, nonprofit land trust founded in 1971 with a mission to preserve Mount Diablo’s peaks, surrounding foothills, watersheds, and connection to the Diablo Range through land acquisition and preservation strategies designed to protect the mountain’s natural beauty, biological diversity, and historic and agricultural heritage; enhance our area’s quality of life; and provide educational and recreational opportunities consistent with protection of natural resources. To learn more, please visit www.savemountdiablo.org.

Dakota Access, Environmental Impacts, Keeping Watch on Earth News, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Pipeline transport, Standing Rock Sioux, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Dakota pipeline shutdown: temporary victory for Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

July 8, 2020 Roger Straw

Court Orders Dakota Access Pipeline To Shut Down Pending Environmental Review

Forbes, by Elana Lyn Gross, Jul 6, 2020

Native Nations Rise Portland Protest Against DAPL — Ow Hi of the Warm Springs tribe takes part in a protest showing solidarity with the “Native Nations … [+] GETTY IMAGES

TOPLINE

Three years after the Dakota Access pipeline first started carrying oil, a federal judge ordered Monday that the pipeline must be shut down during a court-ordered environmental review that is necessary because the U.S. government violated federal environmental law, in a decision seen as a victory for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and a defeat for the oil industry and President Donald Trump, who backed it in 2017.

KEY FACTS

In 2016, the Standing Rock Sioux, Cheyenne River Sioux and other American Indian tribes sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for approving the Dakota Access pipeline, saying it put tribal water supplies and cultural resources at risk.
The Obama administration paused the project in 2016 after thousands of pipeline opponents protested, but Trump put it back on track after taking office in 2017.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote that the court found that the U.S. Amy Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it granted an easement to Dakota Access to create a segment of the crude-oil pipeline without writing the required Environmental Impact Statement.
Energy Transfer Partners, the parent company of the Dakota Access pipeline, argued that the project could lose as much as $643 million in 2020 and $1.4 billion in 2021 and that the shutdown would have serious consequences for the North Dakota oil industry and the entire state of North Dakota because its economy is largely dependent on revenue from oil and gas taxes; the tribes argued that the projections were “wildly exaggerated” because a collapse in oil prices, demand and production had already caused production to plummet.
The court noted the “serious effects” the shutdown would have for many states, companies and workers but wrote that, “given the seriousness of the Corps’ … error, the impossibility of a simple fix, the fact that Dakota Access did assume much of its economic risk knowingly, and the potential harm each day the pipeline operates, the Court is forced to conclude that the flow of oil must cease.”
Energy Transfer told Bloomberg Law it plans to immediately ask Boasberg to freeze the decision and will head to the U.S. Court of Appeals if the request is denied.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“Today is a historic day for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the many people who have supported us in the fight against the pipeline,” Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman Mike Faith said in a statement provided to Bloomberg Law. “This pipeline should have never been built here. We told them that from the beginning.”

KEY CONTEXT

The decision states that the pipeline must be shut down within 30 days and can not re-open until the report is created. The court expects it will take 13 months.

TANGENT

Hollywood celebrities including Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck spoke out against the pipeline and Shailene Woodley was arrested at a protest.