Contact: Seth Nelson
Following the release of updated text of the the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), crucial legislation that addresses longstanding barriers to building out clean energy infrastructure across America, and ahead of a pivotal Senate vote to move this legislation forward, Evergreen Action Executive Director Lena Moffitt released the following statement:
“Voters spoke loud and clear on Tuesday: They want bold action to cut energy costs. And on their first day back to legislating, the Senate can immediately deliver on that mandate. Climate change has been wreaking havoc on our lives, our economy, and our communities, for too long. We know the clean energy transition is required to address both costs and pollution, but we are woefully behind on building out the infrastructure needed to make that transition possible—while fossil fuel projects are getting greenlit left and right. We need federal siting and permitting reform now. We need the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act.
“Congress must take action to build out clean, cheap energy at scale to meet the urgency that the energy affordability and climate crisis demand. This legislation will speed the construction of high-voltage interregional transmission lines, improve the ability of clean energy to plug into our grid, increase oversight on monopoly utilities, advance transformational tools like virtual power plants and grid-enhancing technologies, and require data centers to pay for using and upgrading our grid. All of these changes are necessary to cutting costs and pollution and delivering on the promise Democrats just ran and won on.
“Legislation is always a compromise, and Republicans were able to extract significant concessions in this bill. This bill weakens tools that advocates have used for decades to protect communities from the harms of the fossil fuel industry. The hard truth is that despite decades of advocacy, polluting fossil fuel projects and pipelines are still being built en masse, while transmission lines are not. If the status quo remains, and clean energy projects are not built faster, the toll of the climate crisis will only get exponentially higher. We are committed to working with new Democratic majorities to build on this legislation while America builds the infrastructure we need for the clean energy transition. We cannot afford to wait what could be years for another hypothetical deal to come together.
“Thank you to Senators Martin Heinrich and Sheldon Whitehouse for your leadership in fighting for our clean energy future. We are pleased to see improvements made to the text in this manager’s amendment. The Senate should pass this bill when it comes to a vote, and the House should take it up and pass it immediately after. This moment demands urgent action and we cannot afford any more delays to accelerate the clean energy transition and deliver change now.”
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