On November 11, a group of leading energy and environmental law scholars wrote to leadership in the U.S. House and Senate to provide analysis of the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (S. 4753).
As the scholars noted, “Some of the EPRA provisions may help to accelerate the clean energy transition in the United States, which, in light of anthropogenic climate change, experts agree is vital for the nation’s environmental and economic future. Other provisions would have the opposite effect, increasing greenhouse gas emissions by promoting leasing and extraction of fossil fuels on federal public lands and removing or lowering barriers to other fossil fuel infrastructure. With respect to energy development and climate change, therefore, the bill would have at best mixed results by expanding development of both clean energy and fossil fuels.”
The scholars added, “We are also concerned that, in its current incarnation, the EPRA may undermine efforts to advance environmental justice because it may result in significant additional environmental harms in communities that already experience disproportionate burdens (such as low-income communities and communities of color).”
