Western Environmental Law Center

Full post here: enotrans.org/article/the-...

...because in BAAJA permits can be revoked only based on “new information ... not considered in the underlying environmental review process,” no agency could "justify amending an authorization based on additional analysis performed on remand [by court order] in the environmental review.” Just wow.

So I'm currently reading an analysis of BAAJA by U of Arizona law prof @justinpidot.bsky.social who shows that the "project certainty" provisions of BAAJA mean that *even if* a company's energy project was found by a court to violate NEPA, that project would still proceed.😮 And why is that? Because

Listen to Lyndsay of The Alliance for Appalachia to learn why we need to oppose the so-called Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA). Our Communities Are Not RED TAPE 🚫❌ Take action: climatejusticealliance.org/baaja/

Join us for a virtual teach-in on the Section 106 Permitting Bill Reform! Join us on Wednesday, Oct 28th, at 6pm MT / 7pm CT to learn more about the attack on tribal sovereignty through the Section 106 Permitting Bill reform & opportunities for the public to engage. Register at ndnco.cc/section106

lol this post is a confession that BAAJA does nothing to constrain Trump And the choice is not “Trump or permitting reform” — the choice is “permitting reform under Trump or once Democrats abolish the filibuster and pass a bill that actually helps the climate, not big tech.”

Terrifying that there is an off grid gas permitting lobby! bsky.app/profile/keta...

🚨 Congress is considering a "permitting reform" bill that would provide massive giveaways to Big Oil, eviscerate our environment, harm our health, increase energy costs, and impose deep damage on frontline communities. TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE "PERMITTING REFORM" BILL: dayenu.org/stop-permitt...

As public opposition to data centers (and the dirty energy that powers them) keeps growing, Democrats would be extremely foolish to hand Big Tech developers and the fossil fuel industry a massive sweetheart deal. They should vote NO on the so-called permitting reform bill.

Heads up. A Senate bill being sold as “permitting reform” could seriously weaken protections for our public lands, clean water, historic places, and sacred Tribal sites. S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, would narrow environmental reviews and

Albuquerque: Pull the Plug on AI! Join the UNM walkout today and march to Sen. Heinrich's office to stop BAAJA! @unm.edu @heinrich.senate.gov Share on Instagram

The Union of Concerned Scientists has come out against #BAAJA. This is big.

How badly has once-untouchable @heinrich.senate.gov screwed up with #BAAJA? @thenewmexican.bsky.social called him out in an editorial. Extraordinary. "The changes to bedrock environmental laws are what have many past allies of the senator fuming. Tribal nations across the US are uniformly opposed"

👀 4 prominent Sen Dems are publicly calling out Joe Manchin’s favorite legislation euphemistically called “permitting reform” that will favor fossil fuel projects & won’t stop the regime’s attacks on clean energy (a de facto give away to big oil and to big tech) @punchbowlnews.bsky.social

Nick Messenger is correct. BAAJA's proponents assert that BAAJA will: (1) encourage transmission buildout; which will (2) encourage grid-connected data centers but ignore that BAAJA (3) speeds behind-the-meter fossil gas-powered data center buildout via the bill's myriad O&G concessions.

BAAJA will not lead to the replacement of fossil fuels with clean energy, part 10,000.

@whitehouse.senate.gov and @heinrich.senate.gov and @schatz.bsky.social and @budzinski.house.gov need to answer for being on team Alligator Alcatraz #BAAJA

Senate permitting bill would cut the public out of public lands and lock in data center, nuclear, and fossil fuel approvals https://westernpriorities.org/2026/10/senate-permitting-bill-would-cut-the-public-out-of-public-lands-and-lock-in-trump-era-data-center-nuclear-and-fossil-fuel-approvals/

This is the hell that #BAAJA will unleash

Helpful for a Vice President of the American Gas Association to explain why AI data centers pursue behind-the-meter natural gas-fired power gen. Counters the wishful thinking that renewables & unicorns will blossom everywhere if BAAJA passes. Remember: BAAJA is 💯 based on market assumptions.

a glimmer of opposition! #BAAJA

Senators: "The promise of BAAJA will only succeed if President Trump takes care that it is faithfully executed. The Trump administration’s record gives us no basis to assume that he will." @duckworth.senate.gov @merkley.senate.gov @wyden.senate.gov @markey.senate.gov Download the letter

Like...this would doom the planet

I think this interpretation is right, yes. BAAJA would codify Trump EPA letters of exemption (e.g. "You're allowed to hook up this inefficient polluting turbine or generator and run it as much as you want, irrespective of health impacts to nearby communities") as permits and block future EPAs from

Am I right in thinking this means BAAJA helps stop regulation of off-grid fossil gas power plants for data centres? Also I didn't know there was an off-grid gas turbine lobby and it's called COMET (you know, like the comet metaphor destroying Earth often used for climate) lnkd.in/p/ea8Xw4kQ

"THE REPUBLICANS WERE ACTUALLY ALREADY ON BOARD WITH THE TRANSMISSION PARTS OF" #BAAJA 🌎 What did Dems get in this "deal" in exchange for eviscerating environmental protections? Here's what Rs got—we had to turn a two-page fact sheet into a 6-pager to capture it all: westernlaw.org/wp-content/u...

The Senate's proposed permitting bill would strip communities of protections, accelerate gas expansion to power AI data centers, and undermine climate action. It's a gift to the fossil fuel industry. Read more from OCI Executive Director @esbast.bsky.social: oilchange.org/blogs/the-pr... #BAAJA

One thing that perplexes me about the Senate permitting deal: What exactly did Ds get from Rs in BAAJA? Sure, Rs have historically resisted transmission reforms, but that’s changing. And data centers ratepayer protections seem like apple pie everyone wants. So I ask again: what did Ds get?

Anthropic neeeeeeds #BAAJA "don't let Claude die, sacrifice to us" #anthropic

1. Arnold made billions as a hedge fund manager & natural gas trader at Enron. 2. He’s a key funder of reactionary centrists pressing Ds to make a permitting deal w/MAGA to gut environmental protex. 3. He falsely equates Trump’s agenda w/Biden’s. 4. He’s an extractive capitalist harming the 🌎.

While people deliberate whether Sens Whitehouse and Heinrich are right about how the Trump admin would implement BAAJA... Worth recognizing that both voted to confirm Doug Burgum, presumably believing he'd be relatively "reasonable" among Trump appointees. We warned against such gullibility:

Big Oil is literally sponsoring Whitehouse's "climate solution" bill #BAAJA nodirtydatacenterdeal.com

WELC attorneys, who want a rapid renewable energy transition as well as healthy ecosystems, clean water, & healthy communities, have analyzed #BAAJA, the permitting reform bill. Notably, the bill affects bedrock environmental laws far afield from energy permitting. It is terrible. 🌎 Read more here:

Under the guise of fast-tracking grid transmission, the BAAJA permitting bill guts bedrock safeguards—severely weakening NEPA, the Clean Water Act, and Tribal consultation. Sacrificing community health and ecosystem protections to hand corporate polluters permanent permit certainty is a false choice

@fernandez.house.gov (D-NM) comes out against #BAAJA: "We all witnessed President Trump’s destruction of the East Wing; this bill will only give him greater legal authority to bulldoze more of America’s treasures." @altnps.bsky.social @savingplaces.bsky.social @cjaourpower.bsky.social

#BAAJA will kill the stop-work order on the Big Bend Border Wall contrstruction

Even if the suits aren't completely nixed, #BAAJA will let ICE keep building the projects even if the judge finds they violated the much, much easier permitting rules, since it pretty much prevents judges from issuing stop-work orders

#BAAJA will kill this San Antonio NEPA lawsuit against an ICE gulag

#BAAJA will kill this Maryland ICE gulag stop-work order

#BAAJA will remove the last impediments to the fast-tracked construction of Trump's ICE gulags. It will kill this NEPA stop-construction order against a Gilroy CA gulag #ice

For “AI data center expansion…streamlining permitting & interconnection processes as well as expanding production capacity for grid & generation equipment will be critical.” So, did a tech company write this? No. @rhg.com. Who’s modeling BAAJA. What an absolute cluster fuck.

Also received word from a partner organization who met with Sen. Heinrich's team where it was "crystal clear" that he would not make *any* changes to BAAJA beyond typos and minor technical changes.

New Mexicos's Pueblos are “going on the offense” to defeat BAAJA after Sen. Heinrich told Pueblo governors he wouldn't entertain amendments to the bill & disrespected those governors by walking out of the meeting while they were in the middle of prayer.

Get ready for more of this under "permitting reform." We're releasing an analysis of the bill's many harms to ecological values soon. #BAAJA 🌎 @heinrich.senate.gov @whitehouse.senate.gov

This piece is amazing. @business shows why desperate billionaire right wing oligarchs like the Ellisons are buying media networks, politicians, and influencers while sliming public interest lawyers: their business model is breaking the law. www.bloomberg.com/news/article... (gift link)

www.bloomberg.com/news/article... carbonimpactstracer.com#interactive-... drawdown.org/carbon-in-co...

A new Bloomberg analysis shows ~3,000 MTCO2-e of extra US power pollution between 2025-2035 thanks to data centre growth. That is: = 84 new coal plants /yr = 33k lost jobs globally = 1.2m more ppl pushed into unlivable climate

projects easier to build and harder to stop. It is also indisputable that it will allow Trump to spend the next two years issuing leases, permits, and authorizations for fossil fuel projects that the next administration will not be able to undo. Beyond that, emissions estimates are just voodoo.