Until very recently, the conventional wisdom in the financial world was that reducing regulatory oversight was the high road to ever-accelerating economic prosperity. But this road has led us straight into a high-speed, head-on economic crash of global proportions.

Nevertheless, in recent weeks, corporate interests and Republican legislators in California have lobbied hard to eliminate environmental oversight for certain public infrastructure decisions, alleging this deregulation is needed to jump-start California's economic rebound. With the governor's help, they are holding the state budget hostage to extort free passage around environmental protections.

The precise target of this deregulation campaign is the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA.

For major construction projects, public or private, CEQA requires the best alternative to be followed unless the government identifies specific policy reasons justifying a less environmentally protective alternative. To determine which alternative would be best, a formal, science-based review must be conducted and made public before any alternative can be implemented.

This is what the Republicans in the Legislature and the corporate interests want eliminated. While this change would affect projects throughout the state, there is an especially telling example only a few miles from the Capitol: Caltrans' planned expansion of Highway 50 from Sunrise to Watt.

This project has already gone through a CEQA review process, but a flawed one. The courts ruled that Caltrans had not followed the law and had failed to conduct proper environmental review by not considering alternatives to freeway widening and failing to assess potential impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions. The court ordered Caltrans to do a new, more comprehensive analysis.

One of the alternatives that a comprehensive analysis of this project would include is the expansion of light-rail service. For economic and environmental reasons, expanded light-rail service is the better choice.

Transit expansions tend to generate more jobs than roadway expansions. Regional Transit officials say the initial projects for expanded light-rail service could be implemented within the 120-day time frame for the first phase of the federal economic stimulus program, if funding were made available. Construction of the entire double track to Folsom could begin within the next year.

The best scientific studies to date strongly indicate what many freeway commuters have long suspected – that the supposed benefits of HOV systems do not, in practice, pan out. Mostly, HOV lanes allow those who already share rides for other reasons to shorten their commutes slightly compared to those who drive alone. Reductions in congestion resulting from freeway expansion are short-lived as new lanes are quickly overwhelmed by increased traffic from residential sprawl development that invariably follows such expansions.

Infrastructure projects that encourage more use of the automobile not only increase greenhouse gas emissions, they also increase other long-term, health-related costs as well as community-related costs, such as decreased property values, less mobility for those with disabilities and for those who would prefer to walk and/or to bike rather than drive.

One can disagree with my assessment. But the point of having a CEQA review is to ensure that a sound, science-based analysis is available so decision makers and the public can make the best choices. This is the oversight process the governor and corporate lobbyists want us to forgo, in the name of economic expediency.

Forgoing this process would definitely be expedient and economic for certain firms – those that specialize in building highways. But it would be neither expedient nor economic for the state as a whole. Corporations and their lobbyists look out for their shareholders. The governor should look out for all of us by looking forward. Looking the other way is no way to move California forward.

Richard Seyman is co-chairman of the Environmental Council of Sacramento's Committee on Transportation, Air Quality & Climate Change. He lives in Davis.