Letters: California’s top environmental safety law does what it’s supposed to do
San Francisco Chronicle
May 30, 2025
Reina Tello
Regarding “California environmental law nearly killed a childcare facility in our community. Enough is enough” (Open Forum, SFChronicle.com, May 27): Napa County Supervisors Anne Cottrell and Liz Alessio say in their op-ed that they want to make it easier to build projects like affordable housing and childcare centers, but bulldozing our state’s most important environmental and public health law is not the solution.
Drastically weakening the California Environmental Quality Act, as state Sen. Scott Wiener’s SB607 proposes, would include allowing polluting projects in neighborhoods with minimal to no environmental review. That’s bad for children and families.
Deregulation of projects like freeways, power plants and railyards will increase air pollution and lead to public health problems. CEQA is one of the primary tools California communities have to protect their residents’ health and safety.
The Senate Appropriations Committee rightly saw that SB607 was too extreme and, on May 23, refused to pass it as drafted.
Reina Tello, community organizer, People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights, San Francisco