Permitting Bill: “Desperately Needed” But Must Improve 

WASHINGTON, DC - Text of a bipartisan permitting bill in the Senate was made public today. 

Following is reaction from Manish Bapna, President and CEO at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):  

"The climate crisis has made the necessity of permitting reform clear. It will take us time to digest this bill, but it is obvious that there are stark tradeoffs being made. The transmission provisions contained in the bill are desperately needed; the question is do those benefits outweigh the cost of the rollbacks to the foundational environmental laws of this country.  We need to better understand how the significant changes to the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, NEPA and others will accelerate oil and gas development, therefore limiting the climate benefits, while also weighing the impact to clean air, water, and wildlife.  

“Until clean energy can compete on a level playing field with fossil fuels, the United States’ ability to address the climate crisis and all the costs associated with it, will be muted. And ensuring the agreement puts an end to the Trump administration's war on clean energy--the cheapest and fastest sources of energy--will be a necessary element to any deal.” 

Established in 1970, NRDC (the Natural Resources Defense Council) works to safeguard the earth, its people, its plants and animals, and the natural systems on which all life depends. Our team of more than 800 lawyers, policy experts, scientists, economists, and communications specialists work across the United States and around the world, from offices in Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, and Santa Monica, as well as a representative office in Beijing and affiliate offices in New Delhi (through NRDC’s wholly owned for-profit subsidiary, NRDC India Private Limited) and London (through its UK-based partner NRDC International).