Washington, DC \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement on proposed legislation in the Senate to reform permitting:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTransmission is much needed to move renewable energy from solar and wind farms to the places where there is a high demand for electricity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cData centers should pay their fair share for the resources they use.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd having cleaner, cheaper renewable energy is important for reducing energy costs here at home, for our country\u2019s competitive status in the world, and for our ability to tackle climate chaos.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI strongly support the portions of this bill that seek these outcomes and praise the work of my colleagues<\/strong> \u2013 Senators Whitehouse and Heinrich \u2013 who have strived to accomplish these objectives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut at the demand of the fossil fuel titans, this bill also accelerates the extraction and burning of fossil fuels.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cVery simply: getting more renewable electrons where they are needed doesn’t tackle climate change if you simultaneously promote the burning of more fossil fuels. Unfortunately, this bill does exactly that.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis bill could make it easier to build more data centers powered by \u2018behind the meter’ natural gas plants.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt makes it much easier to build natural gas pipelines that will transport incredible quantities of natural gas overseas as LNG.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMore pipelines and export terminals equal more American fracked gas burned at home and abroad.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd while the models exclude American gas burned abroad from the climate impact of this bill, the Earth is affected the same no matter where the gas is burned.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis bill has a number of other features that merit careful analysis. Yet, the bill has never had a public hearing. Not in the House. Not in the Senate.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRobust consideration of the bill should be a priority in the new Congress.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHere are some of the other issues that merit careful examination.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe bill restricts states’ ability to raise and address clean water concerns on gas pipelines as well as transmission lines.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt shortens timelines that make it hard-to-impossible for grassroots and community groups to raise concerns about projects.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt eliminates tools that states and localities use to fight the development of new data centers and detention centers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd it impacts the sovereignty and rights of Tribes.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPermitting reform for electrical transmission lines is essential.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut the current bill raises too many serious issues that require more deliberation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will vote against the bill before us today, but I look forward to working with my colleagues to get permitting reform right.\u201d<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n ###<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Washington, DC \u2013 Today, Oregon\u2019s Senator Jeff Merkley released the following statement on proposed legislation in the Senate to reform permitting: \u201cTransmission is much needed to move renewable energy from solar and wind farms to the places where there is a high demand for electricity. \u201cData centers should pay their fair share for the resources […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[44,36,45],"class_list":["post-25659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-jobs-and-the-economy","tag-natural-resources-and-rural-development","tag-tackling-climate-change"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n