California’s landmark environmental laws will be suspended for wildfire victims looking to rebuild their homes and businesses, according to an executive order signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The order says building permit and inspection requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Code, while often seen as onerous by developers, are reducing the cost of fires in Pacific Palisades, Altadena and other communities. This will be eased for the benefit of the public.
“California leads the nation in environmental stewardship, and I’m not going to give that up,” Newsom told Jacob Soboroff on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “But one thing I am non-negotiable is delay. Delay is a denial to people, lives, traditions and places are torn apart and torn apart.”
Conservatives, especially President-elect Donald Trump, have criticized Newsom and other Democratic leaders in California for adopting environmental policies they say laid the foundation for the historic destruction caused by this month’s wildfires. There is. President Trump called Newsom “incompetent” and said he should resign, making false statements about water diversions being used to protect small fish and Federal Emergency Management Agency policies.
“Fires are still raging in Los Angeles. Incompetent Polish officials don’t know how to put them out,” President Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday night. “Thousands of great homes are gone and many more will be lost soon. There is death everywhere. This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our country. I can’t erase it. What’s wrong with them?”
Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment Saturday.
Newsom said in an interview on NBC that he asked the president-elect to come and inspect the devastation firsthand, as Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Kathryn Berger (R) did earlier Saturday.
“We want to do it in the spirit of an open hand, not a clenched fist. He’s the next president,” Newsom said. “I respect the office.”
Newsom said he is concerned about how long it will take to rebuild, although he noted that many of the buildings that survived the fire were likely built to modern building codes. His executive order therefore eliminates some CEQA requirements and amends provisions of the Coastal Act to prevent property tax assessments from increasing for people who rebuild.
The moratorium only applies to properties and facilities that are in “substantially the same location” as before the fire and whose height and area do not exceed 110% of their original size, according to the order.
CEQA was signed into law by then-Gov. In 1970, amid a growing environmental movement, President Ronald Reagan took office, and state voters approved the Coastal Act in 1972 after the catastrophic oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara.
Both parties have faced challenges for decades, and governors from both parties have argued for more than 40 years that CEQA reform is needed. Some of the law’s requirements were temporarily suspended by executive orders issued by Newsom during the pandemic. Now, he insists, it’s that time again.
Asked on a news program whether this month’s wildfires were the worst natural disaster in U.S. history, Newsom said that while he noted that recent fires had caused more loss of life, “the costs associated with it… I think it’s from that perspective.” In terms of scale and scope. ”
He called for California’s version of the Marshall Plan, the U.S. effort to rebuild Western Europe after World War II.
“We already have a team looking at re-envisioning LA 2.0 and making sure everyone is included, not just those along the coast but also those here who have been affected by this disaster. ” he said.
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