The Energy Permitting Reform Act: A Zombie Bill Prioritizing Polluters Over Communities

This week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is voting on the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024. Under the guise of “permitting reform,” this legislation will roll back important protections for communities affected by extraction, promote oil and gas drilling and infrastructure, limit local communities’ ability to seek justice in the courts against illegal project development, and grant mining companies unfettered access to public lands. 

Senator Manchin (I-WV) and John Barrasso (R-WY) have introduced similar “permitting reform” bills in the past. Like its predecessors, the Energy Permitting Reform Act puts polluters over people. At a time when the climate crisis demands immediate and decisive action, this bill takes us in the wrong direction. 

The provisions in the Energy Permitting Reform Act pose a significant threat to marginalized communities. Historically, oil and gas infrastructure has been disproportionately located in low-income areas and communities of color, leading to severe environmental and health impacts. This bill seeks to undo the Biden administration’s pause on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects and advance construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure, effectively locking the country into decades of continued fossil fuel use and continuing the harm to frontline oil and gas communities across the country. 

In addition to fast tracking fossil fuel exports, the bill proposes to reverse long-standing precedents governing mining operations on public lands. The Energy Permitting Reform Act introduces a provision that permits mining companies to claim an unlimited number of millsites, which will allow mining companies to claim vast tracts of public lands for waste dumping and infrastructure development. This reverses the 2022 Rosemont decision, in which a federal appeals court ruled that mining companies cannot claim federal land under the 1872 Mining Law for dumping mine waste. 

The bill also eliminates the requirement for mining companies to prove the validity of their claims. This will allow mining companies to more easily and permanently occupy federal public lands without valid proof of mineral deposits. There are already very few requirements for mining companies to exploit public lands, and the Energy Permitting Reform Act dismantles what few protections communities and their environments have.

In the United States 68% of all cobalt, 89% of copper, 79% of lithium, and 97% of nickel reserves and resources are within 35 miles of a Native American reservation, meaning that any increase in mining for these energy transition minerals will be devastating for the lands, waters, and peoples of these areas, especially if the Energy Permitting Reform Act strips what protections they rely on. 

Indigenous Peoples have faced and continue to face colonization and its associated rights violations that undermine their health, culture, and sovereignty. Instead of ensuring that the voices and rights of Indigenous communities are respected and protected, the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 will lead to further encroachment on Indigenous lands and destruction of sacred sites. 

At a time when the climate crisis demands immediate, decisive, and just action, the Energy Permitting Reform Act takes us in the opposite direction. This bill prioritizes short-term economic gains for the fossil fuel and mining industries over the long term health of frontline communities, our planet and future generations. We encourage all readers to contact their Senators and urge them to vote against this bill.