Hey all,

The Republicans were able to place permitting deform language into the Debt Ceiling Deal. Passing these changes in the National Environmental Protection Act NEPA would severely limit the ability of BIPOC and Frontline communities to stop disastrous fossil fuel infrastructure projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia.

Please copy and paste the following letter and send it to Senator Duckworth's staffer Lizzy Olsen at [email protected]

Hi Lizzy Olsen,

I'm writing to urge your boss to ask Leader Schumer to allow helpful amendments to the Fiscal Responsibility Act and hear those amendments quickly. The current dirty debt deal contains several poison pills that would harm environmental justice communities, low-wealth families, and our climate. We also ask your boss to support helpful Amendments to remove these poison pills.

Over 225 environmental & environmental justice organizations called on Congress to bring a clean debt bill for a vote. There is still time to remove the poison pills in this debt deal in the Senate, send the amended deal to the House, and pass the bill before the June 5th deadline.

Please email today and tomorrow!

Please support the following amendments:  

1. Senator Merkley will soon introduce an amendment to strike Title III of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, removing the dangerous National Environmental Policy Act rollbacks. The rollbacks in the current deal are not modest. They may result in far-reaching and long-lasting harm to communities and the planet. Please see this article describing these rollbacks, including a provision that could limit which projects are subject to NEPA review at all. More information can be found here and in this tweet thread.
2. Senator Kaine has offered an amendment to strike language that would greenlight the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Over 750 frontline communities & environmental justice organizations have vehemently opposed this pipeline.

We urge your boss to:

(1) Ask Leader Schumer to allow Senator Kaine & Senator Merkley’s amendments to be heard. The dirty debt ceiling deal, in its current form, is unacceptable for environmental justice communities, low-wealth families, and the planet. Your office has leverage because Leader Schumer needs unanimous consent for a time agreement.

(2) Ask Leader Schumer to put amendments to the Fiscal Responsibility Act up for a timely vote. There is still time to modify the deal in the Senate and send it back to the House. But, any needless delay risks default.

(3) Support amendments by Senators Kaine and Merkley to strike the Mountain Valley pipeline section and the NEPA rollbacks section, respectively. The climate justice movement will be watching how each office votes.

(4) Issue a public statement calling out the outrageous NEPA rollbacks in this deal. Here’s a toolkit with draft tweets. A growing list of members have voiced their opposition to this dirty deal.

Harmful permitting legislation--like that negotiated by House Republicans and President Biden--does not belong in debt ceiling negotiations. Once again, we urge your boss to support a clean debt ceiling deal that eliminates poison pills that would harm disadvantaged communities.

Thank you,