Newsom rejects effort to roll back CEQA exemptions for advanced manufacturing

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Set us as preferred Gov.Gavin Newsom on Friday vetoed legislation that would have narrowed exemptions to the California Environmental Quality Act for advanced manufacturing facilities amid pushback from business and industry groups.Senate Bill 954 from state Sen.

Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) would have rolled back parts of last year’s controversial overhaul of CEQA, which fast-tracked approvals for a broad array of housing and infrastructure projects in an effort to ease new construction in the state.Critics said the overhaul opened up a path for advanced manufacturing facilities such as strip miners, chemical producers, battery recyclers and semiconductor plants to open in communities without any environmental review.

Dozens of environmental groups including the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council and California Environmental Voters urged the governor to sign the legislation into law, arguing that it would have provided essential protections for communities that already experience the worst pollution from industrial facilities.Climate & Environment New laws aim to rework California’s climate spending, close an environmental review loophole and rein in electricity rates, among other measures.In his veto message, Newsom said last year’s CEQA reform was a “long overdue overhaul to get California building again.”“While I appreciate the author’s stated intent to ensure these reforms do not result in unintended adverse impacts on the environment, this bill does not merely clarify or refine the existing exemption.

It repeals the CEQA exemption for advanced manufacturing facilities,” the governor wrote.“Further, the bill’s numerous new siting, operational, and emissions requirements would make the narrower exemption impractical for many of the projects it was intended to support.”In a...