On giving downtown stadium a free environmental pass

AEG is already lobbying state legislators for an exemption to the lengthy CEQA process of environmental impact reports and public comments, according to Assemblyman Jared Huffman, who co-chairs the Legislative Environmental Caucus. Huffman says that the exemption provided to Ed Roski's stadium plan in 2009 is providing a precedent for the efforts by billionaire Philip Anschutz's AEG - and he's not happy about it. From an oped in the SF Chronicle:

That we are debating exempting our standards at all, much less for NFL stadiums, is jaw-dropping, considering that [the California Environmental Quality Act] is viewed nationwide as the gold standard for protecting natural resources, public health and our quality of life from poorly planned projects. But that's not stopping Philip Anschutz's Anschutz Entertainment Group. AEG, in partnership with the Wasserman Media Group, wants to build an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles - a project raising issues about traffic congestion, parking, smog, effects on disadvantaged communities, and other factors that must be addressed under CEQA.

Sacramento could be one of the few opportunities for opponents of the stadium plan to raise a ruckus. It's certainly not going to happen at City Hall.