California Forever’s Bid to Win Manufacturing Jobs Divides Solano County Residents

According to the bill’s authors — former Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and former Senate majority leader Bob Hertzberg, who joined California Forever’s team in mid-April as “special counsel” — the draft legislation provides several mechanisms to speed environmental and regulatory approvals for the two proposed projects: a shipyard in Collinsville and the Solano Foundry, an advanced manufacturing site seven miles away. It would also extend to any workforce housing included on either site.

It asks for the proposed shipyard to rely on a 2008 environmental impact report the county has already approved for that site. And, it requires any challenges to the two projects under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) be resolved within 270 days.

But there’s a catch: in order to trigger those mechanisms, the company first has to sign a deal with a major manufacturer that promises to bring thousands of jobs to the county.

Since late last year, California Forever has been in talks with Saronic, an autonomous shipbuilding defense startup valued at more than $9 billion, to see if it might open its $3.2 billion naval shipyard called Port Alpha in Solano County.

“We’re trying to create the environment where any of these companies that want to come to California to create these high-wage jobs can actually happen,” Hertzberg told KQED. “And we’re not going to be in a situation where it takes 10 years.”

The draft legislation has not been published yet, but company officials said it will be included in a trailer bill to the state’s budget, which lawmakers approved this week. The use of a trailer bill, or a secondary piece of legislation the state can enact to implement the state budget after it has been approved, has been criticized by some as a way to sidestep public input.

Sarah Soroken, a resident of Rio Vista and member of Solano Together, a coalition opposed to California Forever, said she’s deeply concerned this legislation could allow the project to be approved without proper oversight.

“This is why transparency in a public process is so important,” she said. “Because if we let decisions happen behind closed doors, there may be factors taken into account that really don’t prioritize the health and well-being of the people.”

Job seekers, however, are eager for a change. Last week, labor groups across the state called on Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state leaders to approve the proposed draft legislation and bring jobs to Solano County.

John Kowalski, a union pipe fitter and plumber based in Vacaville, said he has spent most of his career traveling outside the county for work. He pointed to the Budweiser plant shutting down in Fairfield, the Valero plant shutting down in Benicia and Jelly Belly, the candy company based in Fairfield, closing its corporate-commercial operations there.

“There’s no real industry here,” he said. “With [the Foundry] and the housing that California Forever would like to bring to Solano County, it’s needed.”

Steinberg and Hertzberg told KQED that California Forever would still need to complete environmental impact reports and would need county approval on its projects. But those approvals, they acknowledged, can take years to negotiate, especially with property, sales or other tax-sharing agreements. The draft legislation includes a provision requiring binding arbitration to protect the county from any costs the project could incur.

The company is currently pursuing plans for nearby Suisun City to annex some of its land, including the Foundry site. City Manager Bret Prebula said this legislation would not impact the city’s involvement in that process. Instead, he said, it could free the annexation deal and the development from being caught in bureaucracy that he argued goes beyond common sense.

“I would say the majority of people in the state would tell you there’s too much bureaucracy broadly in the state of California,” he said. “This is trying to move towards … a place of what is common sense bureaucracy and what is just process.”

Steinberg and Hertzberg said they spent months listening to local elected officials about their concerns, which the legislation attempts to assuage.

But Okamura said he wasn’t approached by Steinberg or Hertzberg during that tour, even though his city would be the most impacted. And while he agreed, in principle, with the idea of speedy approvals, he said that in practice, it could lead to bad outcomes, especially for his small town.

“By no means am I a NIMBY; I want that to be very clear,” Okamura said. “I support the shipyard. I don’t support not mitigating challenges that my community will have.”

Chris Rico, president and CEO of the Solano Economic Development Corporation, said his county desperately needs these jobs and this project could be a catalyst to turn things around for the county’s economic health. He noted that similar deals have previously been struck to expedite approvals for the Oakland A’s stadium, the Golden State Warriors Arena and the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, among other projects.

“If we’re willing to give CEQA exemptions to [sports] stadiums, we should be willing to give a CEQA exemption to a manufacturer that’s going to bring 10,000 jobs and a $3.2 billion investment,” he said. “It’s kind of a no-brainer.”