and permitting requirements to ensure that the projects are feasible, safe, nancially viable, and not unduly harmful to downstream communities and the environment. These requirements serve important roles by ensuring that decisionmakers evaluate feasible alternatives to proposed storage projects and are fully informed about the economic and environmental consequences of the project prior to making decisions. They also ensure safety in the construction and operation of the facilities. Other

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... of storage projects, such as groundwater storage projects, require similar assessments and permits. But the time requirements associated with the approvals for those projects may be shorter if their environmental impacts are less signi cant and their costs lower. Our analysis of storage projects also reveals that the long timelines are the result of many di erent laws and political/ nancial concerns. There is no single silver bullet to shorten schedules. Exempting storage projects from CEQA coverage, for example, likely would not signi cantly shorten the timeline (and would be inadvisable for other reasons). The long timetables of recent large surface storage projects suggest that future major projects will likely follow similarly lengthy schedules. The recent breach scare at Oroville Dam has highlighted the importance of making sure that when these projects are built, they are built right, without cutting corners on planning. As a result, Proposition 1 funding decisions should be made with much greater consideration given to the likely timeline for bringing funded projects online, based on real experience rather than hopeful estimates or, as has more often been the case, simply ignoring the issue. The long timetables of recent large surface storage projects suggest that future major projects will likely follow similarly lengthy schedules.