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.
