Defenders Strongly Condemns House Budget Reconciliation Bill as Disastrous for Wildlife, Imperiled Species

Defenders of Wildlife today strongly condemns the budget reconciliation bill passed by the House as disastrous for American wildlife and imperiled species. The bill overturns critical wildlife and environmental protections and authorizes the destruction and degradation of large swaths of public lands and waters currently home to hundreds of imperiled species.  

“The House bill would cause permanent and far-reaching damage to wildlife conservation, and we urge the Senate to reject it,” said Robert Dewey, vice president of government relations at Defenders of Wildlife. “The House has given the American people a bill with pay-to-play permitting fees and unchecked logging and energy extraction along many other provisions designed to increase corporate profit at the expense of our public health and natural habitats. This is a clear-cut case of the House selling out America’s wildlife and their habitats so that the oil, gas and logging industries can make more money.”

Among other harmful provisions, the House reconciliation bill:

• Circumvents the National Environmental Policy Act by allowing pay-to-play permitting, pushing through environmental reviews and barring administrative or judicial review for projects by companies that pay an additional fee.
• Requires no fewer than four mandated lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife refuge by no later than 10 years.
• Increases timber production by a minimum of 25% and requires annual issuance of 20-year contracts in each region of the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.
• Requires quarterly lease sales of onshore oil and gas in any state with available land, including Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Nevada and Alaska.  
• Requires no fewer than 30 offshore lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico in a 15-year period.
• Requires no fewer than six lease sales in Cook Inlet, Alaska over a 10-year period.
• Related to offshore drilling, directs that adherence with outdated Biological Opinions and Environmental Impact Statements will satisfy the Secretary of Interior’s obligations under the ESA, the MMPA and NEPA, thereby undercutting and undermining these landmark environmental laws.
• Limits judicial review of offshore lease sales to occur only in a court of appeals in which an impacted state is located.
• Allows companies to pay a $1 million fee for natural gas exports to be automatically deemed in the public interest.
• Allows fossil fuel companies to shortchange permitting by paying a fee of either $10 million or 1% of the project’s projected capital cost and authorize default approval of permits not reviewed by a deadline, allowing the government to green light projects without review.
• Blocks judicial review under the Natural Gas Act by limiting the right to be heard in court only to those with economic interest, barring claims made after 180 days.
• Rescinds IRA funds that would make permitting reviews more efficient, accurate and timely.  

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