Last month, Oakland Mayor
Libby Schaaf wrote to the Federal Highway Administration,
stating that Oakland "is suffering from a crippling housing
and homelessness crisis." Furthermore, she complained
that:
Addressing this crisis requires flexibility and creativity. ...
Federal environmental responsibilities, such as the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), can slow, discourage, or prevent
these creative solutions. We must streamline the NEPA process as
much as possible, including maximizing the use of Categorical
Exclusions for these types of projects.
As
Greenwire (subscription required) noted, environmental
activists were quick to assert that Schaaf's complaints about
NEPA were no different than those of the Trump
administration. However, simplistic demonization of all
attempts at NEPA reform does not quite rise to the level of
reasoned argument.
