Newsom suspends landmark environmental laws to speed up wildfire prevention efforts

Declaring a state of emergency, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday suspended two landmark state environmental laws to expedite measures he said were needed to protect communities against devastating wildfires.

Newsom suspended the California Environmental Quality Act and the California Coastal Act as the two-month anniversary of the Palisades and Eaton fires approaches and the state prepares for the summer and fall fire season.

The California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA, requires local and state agencies to identify and mitigate environmental impacts of their work. The California Coastal Act lays out regulations for coastal development and protection.

The governor’s moves come as Newsom asks Congress for nearly $40 billion in aid for fire recovery and as President Trump and his allies have attacked the state’s wildfire management. After the January conflagrations, Trump said California should do a better job “raking the forests” to prevent fires. His critics pointed out that he federal government owns more than half the state’s forest land while the state owns 3%.

This month, Ric Grinell, the president’s envoy for special missions, said that “there will be conditions” on federal aid to California, singling out the California Coastal Commission — which was established by voter proposition and made permanent by the coastal act — and said it should be “defunded.”

The governor’s office said the legal moves would fast-track vegetation and tree removal as well as the creation of fuel breaks and allow for quicker approval for more and bigger planned fires for forest management.

In a statement, Newsom said the suspended regulations were part of his work in “cutting red tape and making historic investments.”

“We need to protect our communities most vulnerable to wildfire,” he said.

In January, Newsom eased requirements for rebuilding permits and reviews in both acts for fire victims, saying that he would “not give up” on the state’s environmental rules but that “delay is denial” for people who have had “lives, traditions, places torn apart, torn asunder.”

In 2019, Newsom also declared a state of emergency and suspended environmental regulations that fell under the California Environmental Protection Agency and the California Natural Resources Agency in order to speed up fire prevention projects. The year before, the Camp fire erupted in Northern California and nearly destroyed the town of Paradise.