TWS responds to removal of dirty permitting rider from Continuing Resolution
Oil and gas development in the San Joaquin Valley, CA
Bob Wick, BLM
Permitting bill would undermine communities’ voice and accelerate fossil fuel interests
The Wilderness Society issued the following statement in response to news that the Senate removed the permitting process rider from its Continuing Resolution.
The permitting proposal would change the federal energy project permitting process in order to fast-track drilling, mining and pipeline projects nationwide that threaten communities’ well-being.
The following statement is from Lydia Weiss, Government Relations Director at The Wilderness Society.
“We – along with Indigenous, community and environmental justice groups across the country – are celebrating the news that the dirty permitting rider has been removed from the Senate’s Continuing Resolution,” said Lydia Weiss, Government Relations Director at The Wilderness Society. “The toxic rider has no place in a government funding bill or any other must-pass legislation. We will continue pushing back against this or any dirty permitting bill like it that would undermine the National Environmental Policy Act, make it harder for communities to have a say about polluting energy development in their backyards, and mandate the Mountain Valley Pipeline.”
Removal of the rider from the Continuing Resolution came after weeks of appeals from multiple Members of Congress, environmental justice leaders, Appalachian and other community groups, and conservation and climate organizations.
In addition to weakening the environmental review process, the permitting bill also mandates and expedites construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, forcing federal agencies to approve permits that the courts have previously deemed unlawful multiple times. Additionally, this bill prohibits any new lawsuit against Mountain Valley Pipeline approval, effectively taking away the National Environmental Policy Act as a tool for impacted communities to protect themselves.
Attaching the permitting rider to the Continuing Resolution would have forced Members of Congress to make an impossible choice: stop a bill that would weaken environmental reviews and put communities at risk or shut down the government.
###
For more information, contact Tony Iallonardo at newsmedia@tws.org
