Marlie Long

From an early age, growing up in Hawaii allowed me to appreciate various natural environments, from the beautiful ocean to the lush mountains. Knowing I wanted to protect these environments for all to enjoy led me to pursue a degree in environmental studies, where I thought I’d end up as an environmental lawyer. However, I ditched that plan after a week of studying for the LSAT and decided to pursue a career in CEQA instead, as it combined the best of bits of science, legal requirements, and political processes all while helping to shape our communities.

Now almost a decade later, I have been fortunate to work on a wide range of CEQA and NEPA projects across California and the Southwest. I am particularly interested in the intersection of CEQA with urban planning, as those types of projects help to build our communities toward more sustainable, brighter futures. While I work on both project- and program-level documents, I am partial to programmatic analyses because they provide a strong foundation to streamline future projects through the CEQA process with more efficiency and ease—which is a win-win for both the jurisdiction and the consultant!

Outside of work, you can catch me either at the beach or pool, reading a gripping book, hiking with my husband, or cooking up a new recipe. My other true love is traveling and filling my passport with even more stamps (50 countries and counting!), so I am always down to swap a traveling story or two over a glass of wine.