Take Action: Ask your Senators to Say NO to S. 5653 (Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act)

“Hi, my name is {YOUR NAME}, and I’m a constituent from {YOUR CITY/TOWN}, ZIP code {YOUR ZIP}. I just voted in the midterm election, and I’m calling to urge Senator {SENATOR’S NAME} to vote NO on S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, when it comes to the floor on November 9.”

{OPTIONAL, FOR NEW MEXICANS CALLING SEN. HEINRICH: “I know the Senator is one of this bill’s lead sponsors, and I’m asking him to withdraw his support for S. 5653 as written and insist its most harmful provisions be removed.”}

• Do you live, work, ranch, or raise a family in the San Juan Basin or Four Corners region?
• Do you own land where someone else owns the minerals underneath (split estate), or live near oil and gas wells?
• Do you have a cultural, spiritual, or ancestral connection to Greater Chaco or other sacred places in the region?
• Do you hunt, fish, hike, graze, or recreate on public lands, or depend on clean rivers and groundwater?
• Do you support clean energy and want to see it built the right way, with communities at the table?

Pick one or two that feel meaningful to you to share: “I’m especially concerned that this bill…”

1. Locks in permits and punishes accountability (Secs. 1401 and 1402). “Permits issued after September 16 couldn’t be revoked even if they were issued unlawfully, and taxpayers could owe developers 25 to 50 percent of a project’s cost. If a future president pauses drilling after a disaster, developers could sue for 50 to 100 percent of construction costs.”
2. Shuts the public out (NEPA). “The public could be shut out of environmental reviews and denied a chance to comment, agencies could ignore new science, and courts could no longer stop a project that breaks the law.”
3. Sidelines Tribes and endangers sacred places (NHPA, Sec. 2301). “Tribes would only be consulted after decisions are written. Nine national Tribal organizations have asked Congress to strip these provisions. In Greater Chaco, a rig just outside a protected boundary might not even count as harm.”
4. Weakens water protections (Clean Water Act). “It limits the ability of states and Tribes to protect their own waters, and doubles pollution permit terms from five to ten years.”
5. Gives away public land to mining (Sec. 2215). “Mining companies could dump waste on public land without valid mineral rights, crowding out recreation, grazing, and cultural uses.”
6. Keeps neighbors in the dark about drilling (Sec. 2211). “Split estate is common in the San Juan Basin. This bill would strip away the federal notice landowners depend on and BLM’s chance to make sure cleanup bonds are adequate, which means more orphaned wells.”
7. Rushes endangered species reviews (ESA). “It cuts consultation deadlines from 90 to 60 days and lets states take over federal species reviews.”
8. Sets understaffed agencies up to fail. “It imposes tighter deadlines on agencies that just lost staff, and when they miss them, the public pays the penalties.”
9. Is not a climate bill. “The transmission reforms are worthwhile and could pass on their own, but an October analysis found they cut emissions by only zero to four percent, gains that new gas buildout could erase, while the rest of the bill locks in fossil fuel permits for years.”

“Permitting reform should mean better decisions, not fewer people at the table. If Congress wants to speed up clean energy, it can pass the transmission reforms on their own. Please vote NO on S. 5653. Can you tell me where the Senator stands on this bill?”

“Thank you for your time.”

Leaving a voicemail?

“Hi, my name is {YOUR NAME}, a constituent from {YOUR CITY/TOWN}, ZIP code {YOUR ZIP}. I’m calling to urge Senator {SENATOR’S NAME} to vote NO on S. 5653 on November 9. This bill would shut the public out of decisions about our land, water, and air, sideline Tribes, and lock in fossil fuel permits for years. Please vote NO. Thank you.”