Environmental Groups Press Schumer to Oppose Permitting Bill

Organizers from the New York Public Interest Research Group, Food & Water Watch and New York Communities for Change held the protest Monday morning, after staging a demonstration at Schumer’s apartment on Friday. They described the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) as an “aggressive attack” on federal protections that would enable rapid, unregulated construction of fracked-gas power plants, fossil-fuel pipelines and hyperscale data centers.

The Senate motion to advance the bill requires 60 votes. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), its leading Democratic sponsor, said he believed supporters had enough votes. But passage in the House appeared less certain after Democrats’ strong midterm showing and voters’ support for data-center restrictions in states across the country.

Sponsors have revised the bill, but David Watkins, government affairs director for climate and energy programs at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the amendment did not correct what he called the legislation’s bias toward polluting energy. He argued it would make compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, National Historic Preservation Act and Clean Water Act “largely voluntary.” Supporters say permitting changes are needed for clean-energy infrastructure; Watkins countered that existing law already allows much of that work.

A coalition including Earthjustice Action, Defenders of Wildlife and Friends of the Earth asked senators to delay the vote until newly elected members of Congress are sworn in. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said he would oppose advancing the bill without substantial changes, arguing that transmission permitting reform should not come alongside measures promoting more fossil-fuel use. Sunrise Movement executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay urged Democrats to pursue a stronger bill, saying young people and working-class Americans “deserve it.”