This November, Californians have an opportunity to stand up for our environment and our communities by voting no on Prop 45. Prop 45 would dismantle California’s bedrock environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). It would endanger our open space, farmland and important habitat, threaten our clean air and water, and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, all so oil and gas companies, private utilities, and corporations can increase their profits. Green Foothills is an early endorser of the No on Prop 45 campaign, and we are actively engaged in the effort to stop this dangerous initiative.
Prop 45 dismantles California’s environmental protections and silences key voices
Prop 45 is a complicated 41-page disaster for California’s environmental protections. It makes CEQA nearly unenforceable, prohibiting the courts from even temporarily stopping harmful projects unless they meet narrow criteria. It takes power away from local government and puts it in the hands of developers, and stymies the ability of cities and counties to deny projects or even push for safer alternatives. It puts such unreasonable deadlines on environmental review and public comment that Santa Clara County said they did not believe their staff would be able to meet them.
Prop 45 also silences our local tribal partners. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band’s input has been invaluable in stopping immensely destructive projects, but Prop 45 would strip them, and all the tribes in our region, of their right to weigh in on the cultural impacts of proposed projects.
If Prop 45 passes, California will be stuck with it forever. Any changes to the measure would require a ⅔ vote of the legislature, and those changes would have to be in alignment with the purpose of the measure. So if it passes and the people of California later see the consequences and regret what has been done, it will be too late.
A threat to the environment and public health
Prop 45 would make it much more difficult for communities to protect themselves from the dangerous projects the proposition applies to, and there are a lot of them. The proposition covers eight broad categories, and under those eight umbrellas are things like forest clearcutting, herbicide application, data centers, warehouses, sprawl housing development, freeway expansions, new dams, landfill gas facilities, and a slew of other polluting projects.
Not only would this be horrible for our open space, farmland, and important habitat, but if corporations are not held accountable, taxpayers have to pay for pollution cleanup costs, higher medical expenses, and larger utility bills. The independent, non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates that implementing Prop 45 is likely to cost local and state governments more than $100 million annually. And, as with most things, you can follow the money. Prop 45 is funded by data center and warehouse developers, oil companies, for-profit utility corporations, and other polluting industries. Prop 45 is about corporations increasing their profits at our expense.
Prop 45 does nothing for affordability
Despite misleading messaging, Prop 45 does nothing to advance affordable housing or sustainable development. Most urban housing projects are already able to bypass environmental review entirely. Instead, Prop 45 would clear the way to build sprawl subdivisions that destroy open space, habitat, and farmland, increase greenhouse gas emissions, and increase wildfire risk. This is why California Professional Firefighters, the largest statewide labor organization for fire personnel, opposes Prop 45. Similarly, the Legislature has also already expedited clean energy and sustainable transit projects. Some of the timelines proposed under the measure are even slower than the timelines already in place for solar, wind, geothermal, rail, and bus infrastructure. Nothing in the measure requires lower housing prices, lower utility bills, or lower costs for consumers. Instead, it transfers the cost of environmental destruction to taxpayers, leaving us with the clean up bill.
Clears the way for data centers
According to legal experts, there is a strong legal case that Prop 45 would apply to data centers. Prop 45 lists a number of projects that are not covered under the measure, like High Speed Rail, the Delta Tunnels, and a few others. Although Prop 45 proponents claim the measure does not cover data centers, they are conspicuously absent from the list of excluded projects. This means that data center developers could make the argument that their projects are indeed covered by the measure, and the question would likely be decided by a judge. Furthermore, data center developers like Prologis, the CA Resources Corporation and PG&E, have given $1.75 million to the campaign. If it does apply, it would limit environmental review and public oversight over the building of data centers, and would weaken the ability of cities and counties to require data center developers to put limits on energy and water consumption, address noise pollution, or direct data center developers to more appropriate locations for construction.
Encourages housing on open space and in wildfire and flood zones
Santa Clara County is currently affected by 28 proposals for large sprawl housing projects in the rural area, submitted under the “builder’s remedy.” The builder’s remedy is a law that says that if a city or county doesn’t have a state-approved plan for building enough homes, developers can ignore local zoning rules and build anywhere they want, as long as the project fits certain criteria. The purpose of the law is to make sure cities and counties don’t shirk their responsibility to build housing, but in Santa Clara County, the builder’s remedy has resulted in over 6,600 units being proposed on our open space and farmland. Nearly 3,000 of those units are in FEMA flood zones, and nearly 1,500 units are in wildfire hazard zones. Currently, these builder’s remedy projects still need to go through the full CEQA process, but if Prop 45 passes, the County’s ability to stop these projects, or even to mitigate their harm, becomes much more limited.
Reasons for hope
There are reasons to be hopeful, however. Green Foothills is part of a broad coalition of over 400 organizations and elected officials opposing Prop 45. Coalition members include conservation organizations, public health organizations, labor groups, environmental justice groups, and more. They include the California Democratic Party, the American Lung Association, Housing NOW! California, and the California Environmental Justice Alliance. In the most recent polls, support for Prop 45 has dropped significantly.
How you can help
There’s still much work to do before election day, and we need your help. If you are interested in learning more, please join us at our Lunch and Learn on October 7th. You can also sign up for the Text Bank Night we’re hosting with the No on Prop 45 Campaign on October 20th. There are also many opportunities to get involved through the No on Prop 45 Campaign.
Prop 45 would change California’s landscapes forever. The Trump administration has been relentless in their attacks on our environment, rolling back protections for clean air and water, for our open space, and our coasts. It is more important than ever that we stand up to defend California’s environmental laws. Join us in voting no on Prop 45.
