Western Environmental Law Center

Like...this would doom the planet

I think this interpretation is right, yes. BAAJA would codify Trump EPA letters of exemption (e.g. "You're allowed to hook up this inefficient polluting turbine or generator and run it as much as you want, irrespective of health impacts to nearby communities") as permits and block future EPAs from

Am I right in thinking this means BAAJA helps stop regulation of off-grid fossil gas power plants for data centres? Also I didn't know there was an off-grid gas turbine lobby and it's called COMET (you know, like the comet metaphor destroying Earth often used for climate) lnkd.in/p/ea8Xw4kQ

"THE REPUBLICANS WERE ACTUALLY ALREADY ON BOARD WITH THE TRANSMISSION PARTS OF" #BAAJA 🌎 What did Dems get in this "deal" in exchange for eviscerating environmental protections? Here's what Rs got—we had to turn a two-page fact sheet into a 6-pager to capture it all: westernlaw.org/wp-content/u...

The Senate's proposed permitting bill would strip communities of protections, accelerate gas expansion to power AI data centers, and undermine climate action. It's a gift to the fossil fuel industry. Read more from OCI Executive Director @esbast.bsky.social: oilchange.org/blogs/the-pr... #BAAJA

One thing that perplexes me about the Senate permitting deal: What exactly did Ds get from Rs in BAAJA? Sure, Rs have historically resisted transmission reforms, but that’s changing. And data centers ratepayer protections seem like apple pie everyone wants. So I ask again: what did Ds get?

Anthropic neeeeeeds #BAAJA "don't let Claude die, sacrifice to us" #anthropic

1. Arnold made billions as a hedge fund manager & natural gas trader at Enron. 2. He’s a key funder of reactionary centrists pressing Ds to make a permitting deal w/MAGA to gut environmental protex. 3. He falsely equates Trump’s agenda w/Biden’s. 4. He’s an extractive capitalist harming the 🌎.

While people deliberate whether Sens Whitehouse and Heinrich are right about how the Trump admin would implement BAAJA... Worth recognizing that both voted to confirm Doug Burgum, presumably believing he'd be relatively "reasonable" among Trump appointees. We warned against such gullibility:

Big Oil is literally sponsoring Whitehouse's "climate solution" bill #BAAJA nodirtydatacenterdeal.com

WELC attorneys, who want a rapid renewable energy transition as well as healthy ecosystems, clean water, & healthy communities, have analyzed #BAAJA, the permitting reform bill. Notably, the bill affects bedrock environmental laws far afield from energy permitting. It is terrible. 🌎 Read more here:

Under the guise of fast-tracking grid transmission, the BAAJA permitting bill guts bedrock safeguards—severely weakening NEPA, the Clean Water Act, and Tribal consultation. Sacrificing community health and ecosystem protections to hand corporate polluters permanent permit certainty is a false choice

@fernandez.house.gov (D-NM) comes out against #BAAJA: "We all witnessed President Trump’s destruction of the East Wing; this bill will only give him greater legal authority to bulldoze more of America’s treasures." @altnps.bsky.social @savingplaces.bsky.social @cjaourpower.bsky.social

#BAAJA will kill the stop-work order on the Big Bend Border Wall contrstruction

Even if the suits aren't completely nixed, #BAAJA will let ICE keep building the projects even if the judge finds they violated the much, much easier permitting rules, since it pretty much prevents judges from issuing stop-work orders

#BAAJA will kill this San Antonio NEPA lawsuit against an ICE gulag

#BAAJA will kill this Maryland ICE gulag stop-work order

#BAAJA will remove the last impediments to the fast-tracked construction of Trump's ICE gulags. It will kill this NEPA stop-construction order against a Gilroy CA gulag #ice

For “AI data center expansion…streamlining permitting & interconnection processes as well as expanding production capacity for grid & generation equipment will be critical.” So, did a tech company write this? No. @rhg.com. Who’s modeling BAAJA. What an absolute cluster fuck.

Also received word from a partner organization who met with Sen. Heinrich's team where it was "crystal clear" that he would not make *any* changes to BAAJA beyond typos and minor technical changes.

New Mexicos's Pueblos are “going on the offense” to defeat BAAJA after Sen. Heinrich told Pueblo governors he wouldn't entertain amendments to the bill & disrespected those governors by walking out of the meeting while they were in the middle of prayer.

Get ready for more of this under "permitting reform." We're releasing an analysis of the bill's many harms to ecological values soon. #BAAJA 🌎 @heinrich.senate.gov @whitehouse.senate.gov

This piece is amazing. @business shows why desperate billionaire right wing oligarchs like the Ellisons are buying media networks, politicians, and influencers while sliming public interest lawyers: their business model is breaking the law. www.bloomberg.com/news/article... (gift link)

www.bloomberg.com/news/article... carbonimpactstracer.com#interactive-... drawdown.org/carbon-in-co...

A new Bloomberg analysis shows ~3,000 MTCO2-e of extra US power pollution between 2025-2035 thanks to data centre growth. That is: = 84 new coal plants /yr = 33k lost jobs globally = 1.2m more ppl pushed into unlivable climate

projects easier to build and harder to stop. It is also indisputable that it will allow Trump to spend the next two years issuing leases, permits, and authorizations for fossil fuel projects that the next administration will not be able to undo. Beyond that, emissions estimates are just voodoo.

...ability to impose clean water protections? How much carbon will come from turning over endangered species reviews to Texas and Louisiana? Answer: no one has a clue. Anyone that puts numbers to these changes is just making stuff up. It is indisputably true that #BAJAA will make all energy ....

Here's the thing: there's no way to model the emissions impact of #BAJAA. How many tons of carbon will result from, say, shortening the statute of limitations and limiting the universe of plaintiffs in NEPA cases? What's the impact of restricting judicial remedies or weakening states' ....

He's talking about permitting reform, and he is not exaggerating. #BAAJA

🔥👀

New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin saw 166 “large methane pollution events” in a recent 16-month period, according to a new watchdog report. It also noted significant discrepancies on whether those events were appropriately reported to the state. sfnm.co/47uM9Km

A startup wants 456 nuclear reactors, a fuel plant, and nuclear waste storage on 9,000 acres of public land in Utah, generating more than twice the electricity the entire state produces. The Senate permitting bill would make sure the next president can’t touch it. 🧵:

In a 2024 survey of solar and wind developers, < 15% of respondents cited environmental restrictions (NEPA) as a top-3 reason for project cancelation. The top reason was local ordinances/zoning, which BAAJA (draft federal permitting bill) doesn't touch. 🤷‍♂️ eta-publications.lbl.gov/sites/defaul...

"Some industry leaders say it would make data centers easier to build" "current pricing already reflects an expectation that developers will end up shouldering more of the cost of power generation and transmission"

BAAJA = Billionaires Ask, Agencies Just Approve. Fossil Fuels 🤝 AI data centers.

Dance with the devil and the devil leads. It never ends well.

The next 2 years will be rough no matter what for our environment, but I think if the permit bill passes, they are going to be worse than we can possibly imagine. There will be a race to the bottom to try to permanently lock in awful projects/decisions and still stand in the way of anything good.

An excellent essay that highlights the risks of BAAJA to public lands from data centers and dismantles many of the bill's worst, poorly-crafted provisions.

There's an enormous amount of data that people in the Western U.S. do not want politicians to erode environmental protections for the sake of energy production. And yet this is precisely what will happen with the permitting deal negotiated by @whitehouse.senate.gov & @heinrich.senate.gov.

Much gratitude to the All Pueblo Council of Governors and @repstansbury.bsky.social for standing with them.

This from @westernpriorities.org‘s Instagram feed is pitch perfect.

Dem AGs are concerned that the deregulatory bill some Dems are pushing “could “create uncertainty in ways that undermine the purposes of the bill” and make it harder for “Indigenous peoples and communities to ensure appropriate environmental and public health protections for their residents.”

👀 A group of nine attorneys general from Democratic states (spanning from CA to MA) sent a letter to Senate leaders raising “substantial concerns” about provisions in the permitting bill that will “unnecessarily intrude upon states’ rights.” @punchbowlnews.bsky.social

Thank you to @repstansbury.bsky.social for standing with tribes and the land and water and against #BAAJA

In New Mexico, water is life. I have spent my career dedicated to working on water, conservation, & community development. I have fought to protect our lands & waters, to pass legislation protecting the sacred sites & water rights of Tribes & Pueblos, & to protect Chaco Canyon.

lol

It's compete BS that BAAJA just affects energy development. Big tech wants to dismantle environmental guardrails against the construction of data centers, full stop. "Last month it emerged that Oracle had cited force majeure as it sought to deal with the fallout of permitting hurdles."

12. The U.S. Senate, Committee on Environment and Public Works, held a hearing on January 28, 2026 centered on the critical importance of permitting reform to the AI data center buildout. Transcript: S. Hrg. 119-405 transcript, GovInfo Video below.