Hill Heat

A group of former Environmental Protection Agency staffers warn that the lame-duck Senate industrial-expediting bill could cripple the agency’s ability to protect the public from air pollution and toxic chemicals.

In a letter to Congress sent on Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Network warns about the text of S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA):

We are concerned that, although the permitting bill was not intended to address the Clean Air Act, as written it could significantly limit EPA’s ability to issue regulations necessary to protect the public from air pollution. It also might limit EPA’s ability to bring enforcement actions, which not only protect public health, but also ensure that companies that comply with environmental laws are not disadvantaged when other companies attempt to save money by violating them.

Section 1401 therefore jeopardizes EPA’s future ability to provide the ongoing public health protection from harmful pollution and toxic chemicals that existing environmental laws require. Rather than reforming permitting to speed the building of abundant energy, § 1401 risks launching a wave of protracted litigation against EPA (and potentially other agencies) for doing the job Congress has asked it to do.

“While not addressed in detail here, we have significant concerns with the impacts of certain other provisions in the bill, including section 1402 and those affecting the Clean Water Act,” EPN executive director Michelle Roos added.

Read the full letter.

Native Americans in the home state of Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), one of the co-sponsors of the Senate industrial-expediting bill, have forcefully rejected the legislation. The All Pueblo Council of Governors unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), because it “rewrites the laws that protect our cultural resources, our water, and our community.”

Speaking at a National Council of American Indians press conference on Monday, October 19th, Charles Riley, governor from the Pueblo Acoma, announced the New Mexico tribes’ opposition to BAAJA, and noted that his tribe was not consulted, “as many tribes across the country were not.” He called out the bill’s radical changes to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and also the bill’s rewriting of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act.

Watch:

“Acoma is not against permitting reform,” Governor Riley concluded. “We ask Congress and the New Mexico delegation in particular to consult with the Pueblos and amend this bill before the Senate acts on it.”

Update Oct. 21: Rep. Stansbury (D-N.M.), who earlier expressed opposition to the bill, tells Hill Heat:

“I cannot support any bill that undermines Tribal sovereignty and consultation, the rights of our communities to have their voices heard, or which undermines the protection of natural and cultural resources. That will always be my line in the sand—which is why I cannot support this bill in its current form.”

Full transcript of Gov. Riley’s address:

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) is “bullish” on the lame-duck passage of S. 5653, the industrial-fast-tracking legislation dubbed the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA).

In an interview with the Washington Sun’s Igor Bobic, Schatz dismissed the argument that Democrats could negotiate a better bill with more Democrats in Congress after January 3rd. He said proponents of waiting such as Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) would have to “prove” that a better deal on permit reform will be possible after the lame-duck session. This is an impossible condition.

Schatz dismissed most critics of the data-center-accelerating legislation as “degrowthers” who “hate development of all kinds,” but conceded that “people who care about local ecosystems” and the “tribal side” have legitimate concerns.

He praised his own record of legislative compromise on climate policy, calling the 2015 “[temporary] extension of the investment tax credit and the production tax credit with the oil export ban being lifted” one of his “proudest moments,” further claiming that and “the IRA with the Mountain Valley Pipeline in it” were both “net-net good for climate.” The investment tax credit and the production tax credit for renewable energy are ending, while oil exports very rapidly outstripped the modeling of energy analysts, who incorrectly claimed the compromise would be net-net good for climate. Climate pollution in the United States and the world continues to rise.

Full transcript:

In a statement issued today, House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) criticized the policies and the politics of the Lee-Capito-Heinrich-Whitehouse industrial deployment bill BAAJA, calling for negotiations on permit reform to continue in the next Congress, when Democrats “are likely to soon have a far better negotiating position.”

Huffman:

“Passing a good permitting reform package will be one of my top priorities for the next Congress, so I’m very interested in these Senate negotiations.

“From what I’ve seen, Senators Whitehouse and Heinrich have done some good work, but they’ve been negotiating from a position of weakness and the tentative deal unveiled today raises significant questions and concerns that would have to be resolved before most Democrats could support it.

“I’m all for streamlining transmission and clean energy buildout, but the threshold requirement before making major policy concessions is to actually end Trump’s war on renewables so that hundreds of bottled-up clean energy projects can bring that affordable power to the grid. Further, we can’t throw states, tribes, impacted communities, and threatened and endangered wildlife under the bus. And as we streamline and cut red tape, we must make sure the American people — not just powerful corporate interests — have a say in government decisions about what happens to our air, water, and public lands. That’s what serious, responsible permitting reform looks like.

“There’s a way to get there, and parts of this deal are helpful, but some of it concedes too much. Hollowing out the Endangered Species Act through the delegation of authority and problematic definitions, for example, is so extreme that a milder version of it spooked several House Republicans off of Bruce Westerman’s ESA bill earlier this year, so you can imagine how it’s going to land with the American people who overwhelmingly support protecting wildlife. And the provisions that seek to guarantee fair treatment for wind, solar, and battery storage are novel, untested, and don’t really end the war on clean energy, but they will still trigger cries of “Green New Deal” and fierce opposition from the House Freedom Caucus, clouding any path to pass this deal through the House unless it gets much worse. And knowing the GOP players, that’s exactly what will happen if this bill advances in the lame duck.

“The bottom line for me, and I believe most Democrats, is that November 3rd is coming and we are likely to soon have a far better negotiating position. Folding our hand now or in the lame duck makes no sense when we can keep working on this and, in a few more months, have a much better deal that works for everyone.”

On September 30, Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) joined their respective committee chairs, Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.), to announce a new version of the Manchin-Barrasso industrial deployment bill “to reform the federal environmental review and permitting process” to fast-track energy and mining projects.

They also stated they expected moving the bill forward to be the first vote of the lame-duck session after the November midterms.

Their 417-page legislation, dubbed the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, combines new sections with elements of Manchin-Barrasso, the SPEED Act (H.R. 4776), ePermit Act (H.R. 4503), PERMIT Act (H.R. 3898), ESA Amendments Act of 2025 (H.R. 1897), SPEED and Reliability Act of 2025 (H.R. 5600), Ratepayer Protection Act (H.R. 9340), High-Capacity Grid Act (H.R. 6633), Mining Regulatory Clarity Act (H.R. 1366), Geothermal Energy Advancement Act (H.R. 5631), HEATS Act (H.R. 5587), Geothermal Cost-Recovery Authority Act (H.R. 398), Geothermal Energy Advancement Act (H.R. 5631), and a Trump Advisory Council on Historic Preservation proposed rule to weaken historic preservation protections.

At their press conference, Capito praised the involvement of the White House Energy Dominance Council, Department of Energy, Department of Interior, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

Whitehouse thanked his staffers Dan Dudis and Kara Allen and Capito’s staff director Adam Tomlinson.

“The other piece that is still outstanding is the question of returning to regular order for wind and solar projects in the Trump administration. And that is unresolved.” Whitehouse said. “They want to land this in good faith.”