Oppose Harmful Provisions in the Bipartisan Affordability and Jobs Act

After years of negotiation, a bipartisan group of Senators has introduced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), S. 5653, a sweeping permitting reform bill meant to speed up energy and infrastructure projects. Its most important provisions for clean energy would make it faster to build transmission lines and connect new wind and solar projects to the grid, as well as requiring data centers to pay for the grid upgrades they need. But those benefits come with deep cuts to the environmental, historic preservation, and public input laws that let communities and Tribes weigh in on what gets built near them.

Democrats made their support conditional on the Trump administration ending its blockade of wind and solar projects. However, that promise isn’t in the bill text, and the White House has not publicly confirmed its details. Meanwhile, the bill’s protections apply to oil, gas, mining, and data center projects as much as to clean energy. As currently written, S. 5653 would:

• Gut Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act by cutting Tribes, states, and the public out of decisions about federal projects that could damage historic and cultural sites like the Grand Canyon or Arlington Memorial Bridge, where Trump wants to build his 250-foot arch.

• Weaken bedrock environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act, and reduce communities’ ability to weigh in.

• Lock in permits, even unlawful ones, preventing future administrations from revoking or changing them, even if a project turns out to cause serious environmental harm.

• Make taxpayers pay developers 50 to 100 percent of construction costs when the government delays or changes a project.

• Block the government from pausing harmful projects, even temporarily.

• Limit courts’ ability to stop unlawful projects, letting construction continue even after a judge finds that a project broke the law.

• Hand over public lands to mining and drilling companies with fewer safeguards and less oversight.

Fixing the grid shouldn’t require gutting the laws that protect public lands, clean water, and sacred sites. Tell your senators to oppose S. 5653 unless these provisions are removed or significantly amended.