As Jews and people of faith, we know that the only path to a livable future is one of tzedek (justice). Everyone deserves clean air, water, health and safety.
Right now we are mobilizing to defeat the so-called “Dirty Deal,” a bill in front of the Senate which would provide massive giveaways to the fossil fuel industry and impose deep harm on frontline communities.
The stakes are too high to sit back. Confronting the climate crisis requires stopping dirty fossil fuel projects – not putting them on a glide path to approval and limiting the voice of the public.
The Dirty Deal holds the most danger for frontline communities already experiencing the worst impacts of pollution and climate disasters.
For decades, frontline communities have been treated as so-called “sacrifice zones,” where the fossil fuel industry has located dirty, polluting plants and pipelines. The result? High rates of diseases (such as asthma, heart disease, cancer), as well as increased exposure and vulnerability to extreme climate events.
We stand with frontline communities, policymakers and hundreds of climate and environmental partners to say NO giveaway to Big Oil.
Once again, fossil fuel corporations and the politicians who do their bidding are pushing forward a dangerous bill to rapidly build out dirty energy projects. The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 would greenlight dirty energy projects while limiting input and protections for nearby communities.
Hundreds of organizations have signed on to letters to demand that legislators reject the Dirty Deal. Over 680 organizations issued this letter in opposition. In July, 2024, 360 climate and environmental organizations signed onto another letter to urge the Senate to reject the Dirty Deal.
“This fossil fuel wish list is a cruel and direct attack on environmental justice communities and the climate. This legislation would truncate and hollow out the environmental review process, weaken Tribal consultations, and make it far harder for frontline communities to have their voices heard by gutting bedrock protections in the National Environmental Policy Act and Clean Water Act.”
The recent letter cites the impacts from new fossil fuel infrastructure that will be enabled by the legislation, which one estimate found would lock-in carbon burning infrastructures that would emit greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 165 coal-fired power plants over their lives.
The bill would undermine the current administration’s pause on approvals of new Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) exports and restrict the Department of Energy’s (DOE) long-standing review authority by severely limiting the time DOE has to review export licenses and requiring automatic approval after a 90 day period.
It would force DOE to use outdated climate science and economic analysis, while ignoring any assessment of environmental justice impacts.
And it would lead to more leasing and drilling without federal oversight and community input and increased irresponsible speculation leading to volatile markets for U.S. consumers.
It also strips away communities’ rights and the foundational protections afforded them under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) and other bedrock protections like the Clean Water Act that ensure a pathway for community input and recourse against toxic and polluting industries.
“The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee’s decision to move this piece of legislation forward, despite widespread public opposition, is a serious error. This bill would lock us into decades of oil and gas drilling, and would essentially guarantee a disastrous LNG buildout on the Gulf Coast – a place that is already well overburdened with fossil fuel industry and pollution. It’s completely out of line with what science and justice demand. The bill must not move any farther than it already has, and it certainly shouldn’t be attached to any ‘must-pass’ legislation in the future.”
— Greenpeace USA Climate Campaigner Destiny Watford
“Under the guise and language of ‘permitting reform,’ Sen. Manchin continues to sacrifice our communities for fossil fuels, while we are fighting for our lives. At a moment when we have no other choice but to build and create real community climate solutions that center environmental justice, we are forced to spend time fighting against bad policies that we’ve already organized against and won multiple times. Listen to the people, how many times do we have to say no?!? Let this zombie bill die once and for all.”
–Maria Lopez-Nuñez, Deputy Director of Advocacy and Organizing at Ironbound Community Corporation and CJA board member.
For more information about the Dirty Deal: We Act for Environmental Justice
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