NIMBY activists in the city of Berkeley successfully used the state’s landmark environmental law to freeze enrollment levels at the university, compromising admissions for the incoming fall class.

In doing so, NIMBYs are blocking student access to the University of California’s flagship campus.

Many of California’s Democratic lawmakers are understandably furious, but they have only themselves to blame.

For years, the California Environmental Quality Act has been abused by NIMBYs (and unions seeking favorable contracts) to block developments they don’t like, which has undoubtedly fueled the housing crisis by driving up the cost of development and deterring development across the state.

This is not a secret to anyone with even a minimal understanding of the issues at hand.

Occasionally, Democrats explicitly acknowledge the obvious: That CEQA, as it’s known, is constantly used in political ways that have nothing to do with protecting the environment. Former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown called CEQA reform “the Lord’s work.”

In response to the Berkeley fiasco, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, announced plans to exempt student housing developments from the law, adding that the law “was never intended to stop public universities from expanding to meet student needs,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Of course, Wiener is right. But the law was never intended to create a housing crisis either. We encourage Wiener to work in a bipartisan manner to go beyond mere exemptions and curtail abuses of CEQA in general.

For the few brave souls who say aloud CEQA needs to change, too many more allow its problems to continue simply by their actions. When the Sacramento Kings needed a new stadium, the Legislature waived CEQA requirements. And when California Democrats wanted to host the Olympics in Los Angeles, CEQA exemptions were called for. When lawmakers want to build more government-subsidized housing, they look for CEQA exemptions.

In other words, whenever a must-build project comes alone, lawmakers look for CEQA exemptions, because it won’t work any other way.

It’s time for lawmakers to stop playing games and curb CEQA abuse.