Look before you leap

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

“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