Imagine your favorite stretch of public land transformed by industrial development. Forests cut apart by new roads. Streams and wetlands left more vulnerable to pollution. Wildlife habitat sacrificed to fast-track infrastructure, with fewer opportunities for the public to weigh in.
That future could become easier to realize under a new bill moving in the Senate, S. 5653. Supporters may frame this legislation as a way to speed up clean energy development, but weakening environmental laws and public accountability is not the answer to building the clean energy infrastructure we need. We can modernize our electric grid and expand renewable energy without sacrificing the protections that keep our communities healthy and our public lands wild.
This permitting reform deal could undermine the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), laws that protect our water, wildlife, communities, and public lands.
Our public lands belong to all of us, not corporate developers looking for a faster path to profit.
The reported deal could:
- Put public lands at greater risk. Millions of acres of national forest roadless areas and vast stretches of Bureau of Land Management lands could face intensified pressure from logging, fossil fuel development, and other industrial projects.
- Weaken protections for clean water and wildlife. Proposed changes could limit environmental review and reduce safeguards for rivers, streams, wetlands, and threatened and endangered species.
- Silence the public. Shorter permitting timelines and restrictions on public participation and legal challenges could make it harder for communities to speak up when projects threaten their homes, water, and treasured landscapes.
- Put corporate interests ahead of the public. The reported deal could give major developers, including AI data center and fossil fuel interests, new advantages in challenging environmental safeguards.
Congress must reject this dangerous trade-off.
The Senate could move quickly on this legislation following the November midterm elections. Now is the time to make our voices heard.
Take action: Tell your U.S. senators to oppose S. 5653 and reject efforts to weaken environmental protections on our public lands.
