To the editor: Contrary to the misleading claims of Jennifer Hernandez and Soledad Ursua, the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provides environmental protections for Latinos. CEQA gives Californians tools to educate themselves and report proposed polluting projects in their neighborhoods (“Despite Noble Intentions, California’s Environmental Law Is Hurting Latinos,” Opinion, June 19)
Polluting projects are disproportionately built in low-income communities of color, and these communities face higher rates of asthma, cancer, and pollution-related health complications. CEQA is a powerful tool to compel developers to reduce air and water pollution, traffic, and other threats to public health.
For example, Fontana residents (69% Latino) used CEQA to reduce diesel pollution and heavy truck traffic in their neighborhoods caused by a new storage project. Arvin residents (95% Latino) used CEQA to demand an analysis of the impacts of four proposed oil wells near homes.
Not surprisingly, Hernandez and Ursua's claims are wrong. Hernandez's corporate law firm has represented developers and industries trying to eliminate environmental regulations for years.
Greece Orozco, Delano, California.
The author is an attorney with the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment.
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To the editor: CEQA is harming Latinos not only by hindering affordable housing, particularly residential redevelopment, but also by preventing access to open space for marginalized communities.
A case in point is the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (DFW) 600-acre restoration plan for the Ballona Wetlands near Marina del Rey. “Anti-digger” extremists, notably the Ballona Wetlands Land Trust and three other plaintiffs, sued the DFW, alleging all sorts of imagined catastrophes if the severely degraded and buried wetlands were exhumed and restored according to the DFW’s expert plan.
The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs on only two of the 26 points raised, analytical points that the agency easily corrected and that have no material effect on the project. However, the court's decision has already delayed the restoration by nearly three years and added costs to taxpayers of probably $3 million.
Meanwhile, the predominantly Latino community of Del Rey to the east is being denied much-needed, walkable open space. This translates directly into public health impacts, as numerous studies have shown the health benefits of such access, particularly for children.
CEQA reform should therefore also address the adverse social impacts of such frivolous claims for personal enrichment disguised as environmental protection.
David W. Kay, Playa Vista
The writer managed the restoration of the San Dieguito wetlands for Southern California Edison from 2007 to 2012.
