Environmental End-Run in Oakland?

State legislation (AB436) has passed the Senate and the Assembly which would exempt certain large downtown projects in Oakland from full review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). It now awaits the signature of Governor Grey Davis.

The legislation would permit a "Master Environmental Impact Report" to be produced for extended areas of downtown. The report would discuss in broad terms the impacts of development in those areas, without any knowledge of the actual proposals which may surface in the future. The future impacts on traffic, air quality, destruction of historic resources or other impacts of concern for major urban development would be unknown. Study of specific projects would be extremely limited, and would not include alternatives or cumulative impacts, as under CEQA. Amendments to protect affordable housing were removed, as was a clause to forbid "big box" development under this lesser review. A suit could be filed over the Master EIR, but not over a specific later project which comes in under this master EIR.

The legislation was authored by Mayor Jerry Brown and carried in the legislature by Senator Don Perata, a Brown ally who is widely rumored to be interested in being the next Mayor of Oakland. City Council was not consulted, and Nancy Nadel, who represents the effected district, opposes the legislation. Perata withdrew his sponsorship of the legislation when opposition began to build, but Oakland’s Assemblymember Wilma Chan was persuaded to pick up where Perata left off.

The law was introduced as an "emergency" measure to spur housing downtown, but it is opposed by EBHO (East Bay Housing Organizations, a coalition of non-profit housing organizations) and a number of other housing advocates, as well as the Sierra Club and Oakland Heritage Alliance. Housing advocates feel that the economy and historic racism have been the real deterrent to downtown development.

Oakland City Council must vote to activate the law. PANIL has voted to oppose it. Readers are urged to call or write Councilmembers with their opposition.

(Note: District 1 Councilmember Jane Brunner: 238-7001/email: jbrunner@oaklandnet.com. For other councilmembers telephone numbers and email addresses, go to http://www.oaklandnet.com.)