Regulatory Hurdle Cleared for 500 Mendocino Cannabis Farms as State Certifies Environmental Report
Hundreds of Mendocino cannabis cultivators are finally on the path to full state licensure after a major environmental permitting hurdle was cleared by the state. The Department of Cannabis Control’s recent certification of an Environmental Impact Report opens the door for over 500 growers to transition from provisional to annual licenses, offering long-awaited relief ahead of the December 31, 2025, deadline. Lauren Schmitt reports…
In a major development for the cannabis industry in Mendocino County, the State agency overseeing cannabis permitting has announced the completion of an environmental permitting hurdle that has prevented hundreds of local cultivators from obtaining state licensure. This clears the path for these cultivators, which they say has come just in time as provisional licenses are set to sunset in December 2025.
“This is huge news,” said Casey O’Neill of Happy Day Farms, a regenerative and sustainable cannabis farm in northern Mendocino. O’Neill’s family farm has been in operation for two generations, but they have been unable to obtain full state licensure – until now. “We’ve been in this really scary limbo, wondering if we’d have to shut this part of our farm down. We’re really hopeful that now the EIR has passed, we’ll get our annual license. It’s been a long time coming.”
The barriers to legalization for farms like O’Neill’s have been largely due to CEQA, the California Environmental Quality Act, and other land use regulations, which have cast uncertainty over the future of Mendocino cannabis for years. Mendocino Supervisor Ted Williams explained in a 2021 interview that unlike other counties, Mendocino’s permitting process did not generate the documentation the state required for adequate site-specific review.
With an estimated 99% of would-be legal cultivators in Mendocino operating under provisional licenses, a temporary permit allowing cultivation while meeting regulatory requirements, the state has now intervened. The Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) has certified an environmental impact report (EIR) for Mendocino, a critical step that DCC Director Nicole Elliott says brings them “one step closer to keeping Mendocino’s pioneering cannabis spirit alive.”
“We are just as excited as the cannabis cultivators in the area to have reached this milestone,” said Angela Abbott-McIntire, an attorney in the DCC’s Legal Affairs Division. The DCC will now continue reviewing applications to ensure provisional license holders satisfy all outstanding requirements, including Streambed Alteration Agreements, to transition them to annual licenses as soon as possible.
While some challenges may remain for individual farms, the EIR certification is a major breakthrough that is already bearing fruit. Casey O’Neill shared that his family farm has already received approval for their annual license, describing the process as a “wild ride.” With the support of a $3.1 million grant from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the DCC estimates their EIR will help double the number of Mendocino cultivators able to transition to annual licenses. The DCC says it is prioritizing licenses in the order of their renewal date next year.
Helpful links can be found here:
https://cannabis.ca.gov/2024/10/the-department-of-cannabis-control-certifies-environmental-impact-report-in-mendocino-county
https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/good-news-for-mendocino-county-cultivators-cdfws-cannabis-restoration-grant-program-awards-31-million-to-support-licensees
