California Environmental Quality Act

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a California statute passed in 1970, shortly after the United States federal government passed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), to institute a statewide policy of environmental protection. CEQA does not directly regulate land uses, but instead requires state and local agencies within California to follow a protocol of analysis and public disclosure of environmental impacts of proposed projects and adopt all feasible measures to mitigate those impacts. CEQA makes environmental protection a mandatory part of every California state and local agency's decision making process. It has also become the basis for numerous lawsuits concerning public and private projects.

Policy

The CEQA statute, California Public Resources Code § 21000 et seq., codifies a statewide policy of environmental protection. According to CEQA, all state and local agencies must give major consideration to environmental protection prior to approving public and private activities. Agencies are discouraged, but not prohibited, from approving projects for which there exist feasible and environmentally superior mitigation measures or alternatives.