How an environmental law stymies housing development Michael Murphy FacebookTwitterEmail illusGetty Images Has the time arrived to dispense with environmental review of housing projects? The question underlies three bills introduced by Democrats in the past legislative session and a San Francisco Planning Department proposal to streamline environmental review. It has a history with an ironic twist that has somehow come into focus in this COVID-obsessed time. At issue is the California Environmental Quality Act, commonly known as CEQA. Adopted in 1970, the same year as the first Earth Day celebration, the act aimed to translate into law rising environmental awareness by requiring public agencies to consider significant adverse environmental impacts in decisions ranging from update of a general plan to approval of a construction project. After an initial study, the agencies could adopt a negative declaration, finding no significant adverse environmental impacts, or prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) before taking action. In either case, the agency’s decision could be challenged in court. The prescribed procedure for drafting an EIR was lengthy and complicated, involving among other things disclosures, public comment and hearings, calculated to assure adequate consideration both of environmental impacts and all feasible mitigation measures.