Update: Environmental law under threat

Not every pipeline, well or mine is wise or necessary, but a proposal to speed up these polluting projects may be voted on in the U.S. Senate this week.

Our bedrock environmental protections, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, exist to ensure that we look before we leap when building projects that could harm to our health, communities and the environment. New legislation from Sen. Manchin would undercut these protections by completing the Mountain Valley Pipeline; encouraging hasty approval for mining, pipelines and other projects; allowing federal agencies to shorten public comment periods; advancing “priority” fossil fuel projects; and directing agencies to identify new categorical exclusions– projects or project types that would no longer be subject to environmental and public review under NEPA.

Last week, we stopped this bad proposal in the U.S. House of Representatives. With your help, we can do the same in the Senate.