Center for Biological Diversity
September 30, 2026
The legislative package, cynically titled the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, would provide massive long-term structural advantages to the fossil fuel industry and minimal short-term improvements to electricity transmission policy that might marginally benefit renewable energy. The legislation fails to meaningfully curb the accelerating build-out of data centers and artificial intelligence.
[P]rovisions gut parts of the Clean Water Act, including the Section 401 authority of states to protect their rivers and streams from the impacts of building pipelines and the EPA’s Section 404(c) permit veto authority, which has been used to stop projects like the Pebble Mine in Alaska.