BY RANDALL RYTI
Los Alamos
The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), introduced by New Mexico’s U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich and three senators from both parties, offers an opportunity to make progress on these challenges. The bill would streamline energy project approvals, expand transmission capacity and modernize the electric grid, making it easier to connect new energy sources and deliver electricity where it is needed.
Communities that have lived with pollution from fossil fuel power plants deserve a path toward cleaner energy and healthier air. Expanding clean energy and transmission infrastructure can help make that transition possible while creating jobs, improving grid reliability and putting downward pressure on electricity costs.
BAAJA is a bipartisan compromise, and not every provision is without concern. Some permitting changes could also facilitate fossil fuel development. Tribal Nations have raised important concerns about provisions affecting historic preservation reviews, Tribal sovereignty and the protection of cultural resources. These concerns deserve serious attention, and meaningful Tribal consultation must remain an essential part of the permitting process.
We should be able to modernize energy permitting while protecting our natural and cultural resources and ensuring communities have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect them.
No legislation of this scope will satisfy every stakeholder. But maintaining the status quo also has consequences, including delays in building cleaner energy infrastructure, continued pollution and higher costs. On balance, BAAJA offers meaningful progress toward a cleaner, more reliable and affordable energy future. I support its passage and encourage Congress to move this bipartisan legislation forward.
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