Author: Cumbia Padilla

GreenLatinos Highlights How the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 Weakens Environmental Protections and Favors Fossil Fuels 

Washington, D.C. — Earlier today, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy voted 15 to 4 to move forward with the Energy Permitting Reform Act. Despite strong opposition from environmental groups, with over 360 groups signing an opposition letter, the bill was pushed forward, favoring the fast-tracking of fossil fuel projects while undermining critical environmental protections and public input. 

Following the vote during the committee hearing, GreenLatinos Climate Justice & Clean Air Program Director Irene Burga released the following statement: 

“GreenLatinos expresses our deep disappointment with the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Energy’s decision to move forward with the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. We thank Senators Hirono, Sanders, and Wyden for their votes against this legislation. 

Any favorable aspects of the bill related to clean energy and transmission buildout are overshadowed by the blatant fossil fuel handouts and come at the expense of communities. This bill aims to open major areas of our public lands and waters for drilling, gut judicial review to let mining companies dump even more waste on our public lands, and reverse President Biden’s pause on LNG exports. We will fight against this bill, and we call on the Senate Leader Schumer and the rest of the Senate Democrats to reject this bill as it advances to the next steps.” 

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About GreenLatinos

GreenLatinos (NOTE: GreenLatinos is ONE WORD) is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.

Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Budget Undermine Decades of Environmental Protections

Washington, DC–Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed dozens of Project 2025-esque policy riders in their Fiscal Year 2025 bill to fund the U.S. government. The Republican majority unabashedly turned the regular budgetary process into a venue for culture wars and dismantling of bedrock environmental policies that keep every American safe by preserving their drinking water, air quality, irreplaceable cultural resources, and access to nature.

With climate change and ecosystem collapse accelerating at unprecedented rates in urban and rural communities alike, Congress must work in good faith to protect their constituents from the damaging effects of climate catastrophe.

This bill will set United States environmental stewardship back decades in a historic moment where we have zero time to waste. In 2024 alone, the United States has already experienced 15 extreme weather events totaling over $1 billion in damages each and many states have experienced record-breaking heat with cascading adverse impacts on public health.

Whereas the House bill cuts funding for critical programs and agencies stewarding environmental health and cultural preservation, today the Senate has passed the chamber’s companion bill which would appropriate necessary increases for environmental stewardship, tribal programs, and cultural programs.

GreenLatinos urges Congress to move forward with sensible and responsible budgetary negotiations that will correct the trajectory of this nation on course to environmental devastation and prevent a government shutdown.

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About GreenLatinos
GreenLatinos (NOTE: GreenLatinos is ONE WORD) is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.

Energy Permitting Reform Act Endangers Climate Goals and Frontline Communities

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earlier this week, Senators Joe Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. A bill that weakens the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and heavily favors the fossil fuel industry, including provisions to increase public land and water availability for oil and gas leasing, shorten the amount of time for public comment, fast-track the approval of new fossil fuel infrastructure projects, weaken the enforcement of critical environmental and health laws and reverse the Biden administration’s pause of new LNG export approvals among many other detrimental measures. 

Following the introduction of this bill, GreenLatinos Climate Justice & Clean Air Program Director Irene Burga released the following statement:

“The proposed bill would be a major setback for our nation’s efforts to combat the climate crisis and would further put frontline communities at risk. We acknowledge the urgent need to invest in essential transmission infrastructure, but this bill does not produce the transformative changes needed for a revolutionary clean energy transition. Rather, it delivers a blow to the health of our communities and environment so that the fossil fuel industry can fast-track their profits. Instead, we need legislation like the Environmental Justice for All Act that leads us toward a clean energy future without compromising the opportunity for meaningful public input that strengthens rather than weakens the protections offered by NEPA. Unfortunately, this bill aligns with the extreme agenda of Project 2025, which aims to reverse the significant progress we’ve made in reducing the harms from the fossil fuel industry and advancing the nation’s renewable energy future.”

“The introduction of this bill comes on the heels of unprecedented extreme weather events throughout our nation, events directly linked to our reliance on fossil fuels. This bill signals a neglect of efforts to combat the effects of climate change, further putting the well-being of communities, particularly overburdened frontline communities, at risk. We call on all Senate Democrats to immediately reject this harmful bill.”

About GreenLatinos

GreenLatinos (NOTE: GreenLatinos is ONE WORD) is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.