Mirroring the Trump Playbook: Eliminating CEQA Review for Water Quality Control Plans Would Weaken California’s Democratic Integrity
This commentary originally appeared on Mavens Notebook on September 5, 2025.
By Max Gomberg
In California we are fortunate to have both state and federal law to protect our rivers, streams, lakes, and bays. It might seem redundant, then, to subject our water quality control plans to environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
But CEQA is the mechanism that provides for the transparent assessment of the tradeoffs involved in water quality regulations. Only through responsible analysis can we understand how rules for river flows, wastewater treatment, stormwater management and forest management affect communities, industries, and the environment. Without CEQA, water quality rules could be proposed and adopted without an assessment of whether they protect communities located near contaminated water bodies; whether they balance the needs for urban housing with the necessity of reducing urban stormwater pollution; and whether river flows would create substantive fish population improvements to benefit tribes, disadvantaged communities, and the commercial fishing industry.
In October 2023, the State Water Board released a detailed CEQA analysis of proposed water quality standards, including river flow volumes, for the Sacramento River and Bay-Delta watershed. The Board’s analysis is essential for evaluating impacts to ecosystems, agricultural economies, and future water supplies to Silicon Valley and Southern California.
This analysis relied on peer-reviewed science to ascertain river flows necessary to improve populations of fish and other organisms and estimated the water supply and economic impacts of prescribing those flows. It also demonstrated that the “Voluntary Agreements” championed by water districts and the Governor would not provide the same level of freshwater flows into the Delta – a level needed to keep the estuary ecologically viable.
The Governor and his allies are pushing for the Voluntary Agreements to ensure water districts won’t have to provide more water for our rivers and the Delta, thereby enabling the proposed Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) to deliver promised volumes of water to Kern County agriculture and Southern California cities.
In fact, Newsom’s Department of Water Resources has stated in writing that if more freshwater flows are dedicated for the Delta, the volume of water the DCP could deliver would be reduced by 55 percent.
Without the Board’s CEQA analysis, none of this information would have been available to the public. Undoubtedly, that’s why the Governor is now pushing for a last-minute bill to create a CEQA-exemption for water quality control plans. Such a change, however, would create consequences much more significant than other CEQA exemptions for sports stadiums and certain housing development projects.
What’s going on with CEQA mirrors similar attacks on our national polity now underway in Washington. At the national level, civil rights, voting rights, environmental and public health protections, an independent judiciary, and other critical elements that underpin democratic governance are under attack. The Governor and the legislature have taken important steps to push back against authoritarian rule. Nevertheless, when it comes to water, the Governor is advocating for bills that would eliminate judicial review, environmental review, and other democratic checks and balances. The legislature should spurn his entreaties. The voices of Californians who demand a more equitable water system must not be silenced. California’s democracy is robust enough to handle a transparent and thorough evaluation of water management options.
Max Gomberg C-WIN Secretary and Lead Policy Advisor
The former Climate and Conservation Manager for the State Water Resources Control Board, C-WIN board member and senior advisor Max Gomberg is a well-known expert on state and federal water policy. His particular areas of concern include equitable water access and distribution.
The California Water Impact Network is a state-wide organization that advocates for the equitable and sustainable use of California’s freshwater resources for all Californians.