You know the old adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? 🤣
Again, I'm WAY oversimplifying things, but having been on or near the front lines on so much environmental affairs/environmental policy that's gone on out here in the last 20 years, I'd say "Over regulation".
In a well-intentioned, but misguided effort to protect the state's resources, things have become over complicated. I'm using a broad definition of resources--air, water, forests, endangered species, coast line, oceans/bays, etc. but no one entity has sole authority to approve necessary work and none of them want to give up what authority they do have. It's a lot like the Academic pissing contests that I saw between professors when I was in grad school.
When I left last year, I was responsible as the Executive Advisor (fancy name for an industry liaison at the exec level for regulatory agencies--No, not a lobbyist) to the following agencies:
Coastal Commission
State Lands Commission
Dept. of Fish & Wildlife (for heaven's sake, don't say "game")
Dept. of Toxic Substances Control (Like SC DHEC only more effed-up)
State Water Board
US Fish & Wildlife Service
USACE (They know everything; just ask them)
CA Air Resources Board-CARB (lots of air--hot air--they love to hear themselves talk)
Overlapping jurisdictions and ambiguous charters/mission statements create more permitting/approval delays than get reported in the media. I'll leave it at that. Could write a lot more, but you get my point.
