The Five Stages of CEQA

I was going to write an article about the "Five Stages of CEQA", when  I found that someone else has already written it!

I encourage you to read The Five Stages of CEQA by  John R. McLaurin.  A quote:

With term limits at the local level, the environmental impact review (EIR) process currently outlasts the political lives of mayors, city council members and harbor commissioners. Combined, the last two EIR’s at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach were approximately 6,000 pages in length. Both projects were appealed before their respective City Councils – and both still face years of litigation, a reflection of the "can do" spirit of California.

Be sure to read the comments:

The process in completely one-sided. A project proponent will be forced to spend endless money and time researching, rebutting and rewriting and must always have clear and convincing justification for all of their statements, while the opponents only have to voice an unsupported opinion to send you back to square one.

For a more local story, see this article explaining why Redwood City abandoned years of work and thousands of taxpayer dollars, going back to square one because of one person's dissatisfaction:

Mayor Rosanne Foust said the plan has broad support in the community but "unfortunately it was just one property owner -- and let me repeat, one property owner -- who was not satisfied with it."

How much is CEQA costing California's citizens?  The short answer is that no one knows -- but it's obvious that many, many thousands of dollars are spent on activities that have nothing to do with improving our environment.