TWS celebrates as dirty permitting rider is beat back again
Washington, DC
Mason Cummings, TWS
Senators voted against adding dirty permitting rider to NDAA, prioritizing community voices and environmental protections
Today, Senators voted against adding the dirty permitting deal as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.
After failing to attach the permitting rider on the NDAA’s base text last week, Senator Joe Manchin pitched the deal again, but Senators rejected the amendment, closing the door on the dirty permitting deal to pass as a rider on this bill.
The following statement is from Lydia Weiss, Senior Director of Government Relations at The Wilderness Society.
“Third time is a charm. Making it harder for people and communities to inform decisions about pollution in their own back yards has never been a good idea, and it still isn’t,” said Lydia Weiss, Senior Director of Government Relations at The Wilderness Society. “It’s time for Congress to move on, and to focus on finding more opportunities for community input and engagement, not less.”
The vote follows months of appeals from Members of Congress, environmental justice leaders, Appalachian and other community groups, tribes and Native organizers, and conservation and climate organizations.
If passed, the dirty permitting deal would have changed the federal energy project permitting process in order to fast-track drilling, mining and pipeline projects nationwide that threaten communities’ well-being, including the mandating and expediting of the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
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For more information, contact Tony Iallonardo at newsmedia@tws.org
