development – Enviro Updates

Trump slashes habitat protections for endangered wildlife

July 10, 2026

Ella Nilsen and Kit Maher, CNN

“Habitat loss is the number one cause of extinction,” Gib Brogan, senior campaign director at Oceana, said in a statement. “When you remove habitat protections, you remove one of the law’s most important safeguards.”

The Trump administration reversed decades of longstanding environmental law protecting endangered species on Friday, opening up sensitive habitats of those protected species to drilling, mining, farming and real estate development.

The change, finalized by the Interior and Commerce Departments, redefines what constitutes “harm” to endangered species and habitats under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. The longstanding law had long prohibited “habitat modification or degradation” because it could harm or kill endangered animals by impacting their ability to breed and find food or shelter. That definition of harm was upheld by the US Supreme Court in a 1995 ruling.

Habitats, Wildlifedevelopment, endangered species, Endangered Species Act, habitat loss

California Forever pushes Newsom to ease hurdles for proposed new city

June 25, 2026

Laura Waxman & Sophia Bollag, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Backers of the plan to build a new city in Solano County say they are in talks with Gov. Gavin Newsom over legislation that would ease regulatory hurdles for the company’s planned development of a dense, walkable city and a shipbuilding facility along the county’s waterfront.

Newsom’s spokespeople did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Chronicle about the talks, but the billionaire-backed California Forever project has hired two longtime Newsom allies, which appears to signal that the group is serious about seeking legislation to help circumvent local opposition and curtail CEQA opposition.

In recent months, former state legislative leaders Darrell Steinberg and Bob Hertzberg have been hired to continue rebranding California Forever’s proposal to build an urban enclave in rural Solano County as a conduit for economic growth by bringing new manufacturing and shipbuilding jobs to the region.

Land Useag land, California Forever, CEQA, Delta, development, wetlands

California Forever wants a CEQA exemption for their new city

June 25, 2026

Jim DeKloe, SIERRA CLUB SOLANO GROUP

As you likely know, a group of Silicon Valley billionaires now known as California Forever secretly bought up about 100 square miles of Solano County and also sued the family farmers who wouldn’t sell to them. They say that want to build a new city on this unincorporated farmland currently zoned for agriculture. This proposal is big – 175,000 new houses and 400,000 people – it would be an Oakland/ Minneapolis/ Tulsa/ Bakersfield sized bedroom community and bigger than Cleveland, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Anaheim – it’s big. If it existed today it would be the ninth largest city in California and would be larger than the largest city in nineteen states – it’s big. And a giant city has giant environmental impacts.

Last week it became clear that California Forever is using the influence that its money buys to try to gain special treatment from the California government – they are trying to have the Governor’s Office exempt the entire project from CEQA review. And Go-Biz, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, seems willing to do it. It’s likely that they will accomplish this by adding a rider bill to the state budget like they did last year for the advanced manufacturing exemption.

The California Forever scheme has many moving parts and it isn’t clear which parts a special interest bill would cover. Besides the 175,000 houses, California Forever’s stated plans include an industrial area called “the Solano Foundry” and the proposed Collinsville 7,500 acre boat-building facility. A group out of Texas called Saronic that makes drone boats that deliver explosives to other ships shares investors with CF. It is likely that the “shipbuilding” facility will likely go to Brownsville TX – their Commission voted this week to give Saronic a 20 year 95% tax break. And the City of Rio Vista believes that their unstated plans include a massive data center. Each of these components would have a gigantic impact on the environment, on the quality of life of existing residents, and on the continued operation of Travis Air Force Base.

Land UseCalifornia Forever, CEQA, Delta, development, wetlands

Cloverdale residents demand full environmental review of proposed mega development Esmeralda

April 9, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Cloverdale leaders faced intense criticism Wednesday, April 8, as a swarm of public commenters accused the city council of failing to ensure residents and resources are safeguarded from impacts associated with a proposed mega housing and resort development on the south end of town.

More than a dozen residents demanded the council require a new environmental impact report for the proposed Esmeralda project, slated for 266 acres of vacant former industrial land.

The project, one of the largest in northern Sonoma County in decades, has been inching toward formal consideration by the planning commission and city council. But proponents with the San Francisco-based developer, Esmeralda Land Company, have advanced their vision while relying in large part on an environmental report completed 18 years ago for the Alexander Valley Resort, a different, now defunct development on the same land.

Merely amending and adding to that report is not enough, residents told the five-member council in what made for a chorus of concern Wednesday.

Land UseCloverdale, development, Esmeralda

High-end Cloverdale housing, resort project Esmeralda sparks debate

February 9, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Sonoma County’s northernmost city is a blue-collar bastion where many people take pride in their roots stretching back generations.

They don’t mind if the community of 9,500 residents, tucked at the top of the famed Alexander Valley grape growing region, tends to be overlooked by the rest of Wine Country.

Long hitched to its logging legacy, with a largely faded citrus crop in its past, the town still holds tight to its farming and industrial roots. Today, many more residents work for the school district, in service and local government jobs, or in construction. Even in a tumultuous time, the grape growing business retains its hold, too, with vineyards that stretch from the city limits to the foot of the Mayacamas Mountains.

One spot on the valley floor at the city’s southern outskirts, however, is commanding an outsize amount of attention these days.

There, on 266 acres once slated for a now-defunct resort project, an out-of-town developer that first came to the county in 2023 as host of an aspirational monthlong retreat and pop-up village, has proposed something that many Cloverdale residents think clashes with the identity and heritage of what one denizen called their “little country town.”

On former industrial land, builders have proposed a sleek, mixed-use community, with more than 600 homes, a resort hotel, two restaurants, office, commercial and light-industrial space, and possibly, its own school.

Land UseCloverdale, development, Esmeralda

Cotati seeks to spur building near SMART train station

January 26, 2026

Amie Windsor, PRESS DEMOCRAT

Cotati’s Santero Way is a winding, tree-lined road that starts at East Cotati Avenue and dead ends in less than a quarter-mile at a self-storage business.

Other than dozens of townhomes in the middle and a car wash at one end, the main defining feature is the train stop for Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit.

But change for the quiet street is coming as Cotati leaders have tapped Santero Way and the surrounding area for future ambitious development.

The vision — with at least one major project on the drawing board for the area and possibly other smaller ones joining it — could add up to one of Cotati’s most significant pending developments, giving the city of 7,500 people the type of trackside residential and commercial district that much larger North Bay cities have struggled to establish.

“You are leading Sonoma County on this issue,” said Omar Lopez, policy coordinator with Generation Housing, a North Bay housing advocacy nonprofit, adding that the vision was “strongly encouraging” for residents looking for local affordable housing options.

Land Use, Transportationdevelopment, mixed-use development, SMART station, transit oriented development

Trump administration targets Petaluma in latest suit over fossil fuel limits

January 6, 2026

Phil Barber, PRESS DEMOCRAT

The Trump administration is suing the city of Petaluma, along with Morgan Hill in the South Bay, asking a U.S. District Court judge to block the cities from enforcing their bans on natural gas infrastructure in new buildings.

The lawsuit puts Petaluma, which adopted an “all-electric ordinance” in May 2021, front and center in the national debate over clean energy — and in the breach of America’s political divide, as evidenced by language in the government’s complaint.

“From the day President Trump took office, his Administration has prioritized cutting energy costs for all Americans, restoring consumer freedom, and unleashing American energy dominance,” the document reads.

“Sadly standing in the way of that progress, many states and localities have enacted ‘energy policies that threaten American energy dominance and our economic and national security,’” it continues, citing one of Trump’s executive orders.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, refers to the city ordinances as “radical measures.”

Petaluma was among a number of California cities and counties that made a push toward all-electric building projects, following the city of Berkeley’s lead in 2019. They included Santa Rosa, Healdsburg and Sonoma County.

Climate Change & Energydevelopment, fossil fuels, housing, natural gas, natural gas ban