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The Senate voted Monday (25-73) to start debate on a bill that violates Tribal sovereignty and robs communities of their right to have a voice in what happens to the land, air, and water in their homes. This bill is a last-ditch effort to trade away our basic rights and environmental protections before the new Congress is sworn in.
The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA) fast-tracks mining, fossil fuel, and Big Tech projects while gutting local public input, environmental reviews, and Tribal consultation rights. It also gives away unlimited public lands to mining companies for waste dumps and infrastructure.
People living on the frontlines of oil, gas, petrochemical, and mining pollution in this country need protections, not concessions. This bill would cause real and lasting harm and make it harder to defend families, the environment, and sacred places in the United States.
Community leaders speak out against BAAJA
Earthworks asked leaders on the frontlines of mining, oil, and gas projects to share what BAAJA would mean for their communities.
Daranda Hinkey, Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone, People of Red Mountain
“The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 will minimize tribal sovereignty and jeopardize our aboriginal land and cultural resources. This bill does not serve our people, so I strongly oppose it.”
Diane Wilson, San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper
“Industrial activity in Calhoun County is robbing commercial fishermen, shrimpers, and oystermen of our income, traditions, heritages and ways of life. BAAJA will make it worse. We are surrounded by massive petrochemical complexes that pollute waterways with chemicals and plastic. We are facing a floating LNG terminal in the Gulf that was approved before residents could have a say. BAAJA would make it impossible to litigate or have a future president reverse these shoddy decisions. Our deep roots in the Gulf should mean more than fossil fuel billionaires’ pocketbooks.”
Brittany McWhorter, Turtle Island Restoration Network
“Here on the Texas Gulf Coast we have had a front row seat to the harm our oceans have experienced at the hands of destructive industries. Especially here in Galveston where our coastal communities and wildlife have already experienced an unfair share of harm from oil and gas exploitation, pollution, and environmental degradation.
“This bill provides an accelerated pathway to the destruction of our oceans and prioritizes short-term profit over the health of our planet and our people.”
“This bill provides an accelerated pathway to the destruction of our oceans and prioritizes short-term profit over the health of our planet and our people.”
Brittany McWhorter
Leslie Fry Sonné, Citizens to Protect Smith Valley
“Smith Valley, Nevada is slated to have one of the largest open-pit copper mines in the United States on our public land. The project may significantly impact our aquifer. We want an open, transparent process with robust environmental review, ample opportunity for public input, and the ability to challenge decisions if our technical experts have data that a project will harm our community.
“We are not opposed to mining if it is done right. We do oppose any permitting bill that gives industry the green light to keep us out of the conversation and decision-making process. Our representatives should push for more transparency and community involvement, not less.”
Fermina Stevens, Western Shoshone Defense Project
“In protection of our future and in defense of the 1863 Ruby Valley Treaty, the Western Shoshone Defense Project opposes the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. Indigenous lands are taking the brunt of extraction for the energy transition and to feed the war machine that will likely target other Indigenous Peoples around the world. I often question if the morals of man exist when those who claim to be doing God’s work make laws to destroy the Earth for profit.”
John Beard Jr., Port Arthur Community Action Network
“This bill’s not really about permitting reform. It’s about giving free rein to the oil and gas industry to push their projects through unheeded and unimpeded. And that is not reform. That is simply wiping out the democratic process that gives people such as BIPOC communities and also Indigenous communities a voice in these matters. They deserve to be heard because they are being affected. And they’re willing to sit at the table.
“Environmental justice, in terms of this bill, looks like the EJ for All Act that is inclusive, comprehensive, it brings everyone to the table who is involved, and these things can be worked out. But I find it funny, as you should too, that these are things that aren’t taken into account. They exclude the very people that are being affected. That is not a good bill. That is not a fair or democratic bill. It is at the worst authoritarian and even fascist because it eliminates the very people who are supposed to be designed to protect and remove those protections that are already there. Improvements can be made.
“But the problem does not lie in permitting itself. The problem lies in the things that are trying to be done in ways that go against the needs of people who are going to be affected.”
Ka’ila Farrell-Smith (enrolled Klamath Tribal member), Artist, Plaintiff in Farrell-Smith vs Oregon, People of Red Mountain
“Limiting the government to government consultation process required by the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 strips the ability of Tribal Nations to participate in federal decisions affecting our remaining cultural resources.
“Oregon communities were successful in stopping the Jordan Cove Energy Projects through public commenting processes upholding the Clean Water and Air Act. The Mining and Regulatory Clarity Act [included in BAAJA] reverses the ‘Rosemont’ decision out of the Ninth Circuit that interpreted the 1872 Mining Act as limiting where mining companies could construct infrastructure, process ore and dump mine tailings. This will allow for a larger total footprint for mining operations on public lands, escalating negative impacts from mining in the McDermitt Caldera.
“The protection of our ancestral homelands, sacred places, and treaty reserved resources must not be compromised in the interest of accelerating federal permitting processes.”
“The protection of our ancestral homelands, sacred places, and treaty reserved resources must not be compromised in the interest of accelerating federal permitting processes.”
Ka’ila Farrell-Smith
Ava Curtis, Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment
“New Mexico has long been exploited by the mining industry, with mining disasters, pollution, and health effects common around the state. That is why we are so disappointed to see our Senator, Senator Martin Heinrich, co-sponsoring the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. This bill would limit public engagement in the mine permitting process, allow companies to claim nearly unlimited public lands for any use associated with a mine, and amend the National Historic Preservation Act to essentially make Tribal consultation discretionary.
“New Mexico has 23 federally recognized Tribes and pueblos who have stewarded these lands for generations and deserve a guarantee of Tribal consultation.”
Organizational Statement, Protect Music Valley
“The people are not separate from the environment. Weakening of our environmental protections is an attack on us, the people of the United States. Desert residents will not stand for the destruction of the protections that have been rightfully ours by law in this nation for generations.”
