This isn't unique to California by any means. If anything this should be a big warning sign for any megaprojects in the whole of the US. The laws that allowed wealthy individuals to hold up such a project are federal not state level

Definitely don't think it's a waste though. Hopefully this can make clear what legislation needs to be passed to get stuff like this through. I mean, should we also just give up on nuclear? Nuclear power plant projects across the US have been famous for double or tripling the initial expenses and timelines