While there is general agreement that environmental laws have been good for our country, there is also general agreement that their abuse, as this editorial shows, is not good.
An excerpt.
Editorial: Midtown in limbo
Suit threatens Sutter's $600 million project
Published 12:01 am PDT Thursday, August 24, 2006
Midtown Sacramento faces two possible futures, and it is remarkable to think that it all may hinge on whether technical methodologies in an environmental impact report will pass muster in Superior Court.
Midtown might have a stunning Sutter Medical Center that employs 5,000 people and provides an economic anchor to the city.
Or it might have an aging hospital that didn't get renovated because of a lawsuit that focused obsessively on the project's parking, traffic and construction dust methodologies.
No one knows what will happen or when this will get resolved. That's a problem for Sutter and for anyone who wants environmental laws to protect the environment rather than produce endless paperwork.
The law under the microscope is CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act. A Superior Court judge who is new to handling CEQA cases, former prosecutor Patrick Marlette, finds himself at center stage in this Midtown drama as well.
The judge's next moves are crucial. Cost inflation for big projects, particularly hospital projects, is staggering these days because of dramatic price increases in basic materials such as concrete and steel and because of construction firms commanding top dollar. A year ago, this project (expanding the hospital, constructing a medical office building, building a parking structure and a children's theater, etc.) was estimated to cost $456 million. Now Sutter officials say the cost is more like $600 million. Sutter isn't making threats, but any institution would have to re-evaluate a project of this magnitude if delays and uncertainties seem perpetual.
The Sacramento City Council unanimously endorsed this project. So did nearly every major midtown constituency. Only one significant opponent existed, a coalition led by a union that wants a contract with Sutter.
