California Democrats on Wednesday moved to reinstate some environmental protections they rolled back last year, reopening a fight over how far the state should go in weakening its landmark environmental law. State Sen. Catherine Blakespear on Wednesday introduced amendments to SB 954, which previously was a spot bill, to narrow the California Environmental Quality Act exemption that lawmakers granted last year to “advanced manufacturing facilities,” which range from data centers to lithium mining. Lawmakers passed the exemption as part of last-minute budget negotiations with Gov. Gavin Newsom in SB 131. … The advanced manufacturing exemption, however, ran into immediate opposition from environmental and labor groups.

Other CEQA news:

• CalMatters (Sacramento, Calif.): California blew a hole in environmental planning law. Now, lawmakers are trying to fix it