What you need to know: Governor Newsom’s streamlining law reduces delays caused by CEQA litigation. Under that law, an appellate court swiftly rejected a CEQA lawsuit against the Sites Reservoir project – in less than 270 days since it was filed.
September 22, 2024 - SACRAMENTO – The Sites Reservoir project just cleared another major hurdle after Governor Gavin 
Newsom had streamlined the project late last year, defeating a CEQA legal challenge. Last Friday’s appellate court ruling builds on a similar victory in the trial court. The Sites Reservoir will store enough water to support 3 million households’ yearly usage.
Artist rendering of Sites Reservoir, an off-stream water storage facility proposed for Colusa and Glenn counties north of Sacramento. Voters approved new state water infrastructure in 2014.
Governor Newsom’s infrastructure streamlining law requires that courts must decide CEQA challenges within 270 days to the extent feasible. Today’s decision by the Third District Court of Appeal occurred within 256 days. It upholds a trial court decision that was issued on June 4, 2024 – just 108 days ago.
“We can’t waste anymore time with frivolous lawsuits to hold up major infrastructure projects, especially building more water storage. The Sites Reservoir project will capture more rain and snow to supply millions of homes with clean drinking water. This is exactly why we needed this streamlining law.”
Governor Gavin Newsom
The Sites Reservoir will capture water during wet seasons and store it for use during drier seasons – holding up to 1.5 million acre-feet of water, enough for 3 million households’ yearly usage. It has received a total of $46.75 million in early funding from the state. In all, Sites is eligible for $875.4 million of Proposition 1 funding. Total project cost is estimated at $4 billion. More information about the project can be found at build.ca.gov.
How it works
- SB 149 allows the Governor to certify qualifying infrastructure projects for judicial streamlining under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
- Courts must decide CEQA challenges to certified projects within 270 days to the extent feasible – saving months or even years of litigation delays after a project has already passed environmental review, while still allowing legal challenges to be heard.
Why it’s important
- The project will help California maintain a resilient water supply in the face of climate change, weather extremes, and water scarcity.
- Sites Reservoir is critical to California’s Water Supply Strategy and meeting our goal of expanding above and below ground water storage capacity by 4 million acre feet.
How we got here
- Governor Newsom signed into law a package of bills to accelerate critical infrastructure projects across California that will help build our 100% clean electric grid, ensure safe drinking water and boost the state’s water supply, and modernize our transportation system.
- By streamlining permitting, cutting red tape, and allowing state agencies to use new project delivery methods, these new laws will maximize taxpayer dollars and accelerate timelines of projects throughout the state, while ensuring appropriate environmental review and community engagement.
- The package will take full advantage of an unprecedented $180 billion in state, local, and federal infrastructure funds over the next ten years while creating an estimated 400,000 good-paying jobs.
Source: Office of the Governor
