Vol. 20 No. 12 Dec 2005

To its supporters, the California Environmental Quality Act is a powerful mechanism for protecting air, water, wildlife, land, public health and safety. Critics, on the other hand, regard it as a powerful mechanism for mischief, allowing activists to delay or halt projects they oppose even if the activists’ complaints are without merit.

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New Jersey is not California. New Jersey is an intense and partisan place filled with rough-and-tumble politics, gritty urban centers both decrepit and revived, political corruption, ethnic tension, and the suburban snobbery that goes with a desire to escape all of the above.

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Criticism of the Cal-Fed Bay-Delta Program continued to pile up during November. First, the Department of Finance released a draft report on Cal-Fed implementation that found a mixed record of progress. One week later, the Little Hoover Commission recommended dissolution of the California Bay-Delta Authority, which began overseeing the Cal-Fed program in 2003.

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El Dorado County continues to be the center of litigation over laws involving mining. In the latest case, the Third District Court of Appeal ruled that a mine operator may not sue the State Mining and Geology Board, its members and two employees for allegedly violating the miner’s civil rights.

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A water district may enter into a reimbursement agreement with a developer for the construction of oversized infrastructure to support anticipated growth, the state Attorney General’s Office has concluded.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed a critical habitat designation for the California red-legged frog that is 80% smaller than originally proposed.

The Golden Gate Audubon Society and Californians for Renewable Energy have sued Alameda County for their environmental impact report.

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Voters in Loma Linda could soon make decisions that greatly affect how the San Bernardino County city of 21,000 people grows. Referendums of two specific plans that call for a total of 2,400 housing units are likely to appear on the June 2006 ballot. And petitions for a general plan initiative are currently circulating.

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Treasure Island has nearly every necessary feature to make it the most exciting new residential development in San Francisco. This 403-acre island between San Francisco and Berkeley has superb views of downtown San Francisco, Alcatraz and Angel islands, and the Bay Area’s ridgelines. It has dozens of acres of green fields and an environmentally sensitive coastline, to make it a regional eco-attraction.

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Construction is scheduled to begin during the first half of 2006 on what will be, for a short while anyway, the tallest courthouse in California. The federal courthouse at Broadway and State Street in downtown San Diego will reach 22 stories — 407 feet — into the sky.

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In a decision similar to other recent rulings, an appellate court has rejected an environmental impact report for a proposed business park in Santa Clarita because the project EIR’s discussion of water sources was inadequate.

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