25thHim

The Affordability and Jobs Act sounds like your electric bill. Unbelievably, it's about making it nearly impossible for the next president to undo what Trump is doing to our public lands. PERMITS LOCKED IN. Once a federal permit is issued, a future admin can't pull it back unless it proves it in court. Unless an exception applies, period. If it can't, the company can sue the FedGov and be paid up to half of what it's already spent out of the U.S. Treasury. And if the next president approves fewer due to caution, companies can sue the FedGov for half to all of what they expected to spend building them. The yardstick will be the last 5 years, the Trump years. COURTS CAN'T STOP IT. The bulldozers keep going. If a judge finds a Fed agency broke the law on an environmental review, the only remedy is sending it back to fix its paperwork. No injunction, no canceling the permit. And you'd only have 150 days to sue instead of up to six years. MINING ON SACRED GROUND. The bill overturns the 2022 ruling that blocked the Rosemont mine in Arizona from dumping nearly 2 billion tons of waste rock on public land with various Indigenous nations' burial sites. Miners could claim as many waste dumps on public land as they "reasonably need," for $400 a year per five-acre site. TRIBES CUT OUT. Under this bill, agencies would not have to consult any Indigenous Tribes before approving projects that could harm sacred sites. WILDLIFE. States could apply to take over endangered species reviews from federal scientists. Fifty states, fifty budgets, and Earthjustice says no federal backstop if they fail. States often get a cut of timber and mining money from federal land. The review clock shrinks from 90 days to 60. WATER. The EPA would lose its power to veto wetlands permits, the power used to stop the Pebble Mine at Bristol Bay. (See my reply.) The Senate vote is expected Monday, Nov. 9. That's why it's so urgent to call your senators. The bill is bipartisan. If you want to know more about who drafted it, that's in my first reply. #DemsUnited 📷 westernpriorities. org