Support for the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act

It takes too long to build any energy infrastructure in America, and current policies and regulation favor fossil fuels. New high-voltage transmission lines are necessary to reap the cost savings and air quality benefits of wind and solar power, but such lines can take a decade or more to build today because current procedures allow them to be tied up in court almost indefinitely.

Clean projects are also subject to the whims of the executive branch, and we have seen approvals for wind and solar projects stymied by the current administration's policies.

Hundreds of Citizens' Climate Lobby volunteers went to Washington, D.C., in July to build support for permitting reform. We met with nearly every U.S. Senate and House office, and I along with other volunteers from Illinois met with the senior staffs for Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Sean Casten. We asked them to support a bipartisan approach to fix our permitting problem. We also thanked Casten for his consistent work developing legislation to strengthen our nation's grid, improve access to low-cost wind and solar, and make energy cheaper for all consumers.

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA, was recently introduced in the Senate. It puts clean energy on a more equal footing with fossil fuels, prevents arbitrary executive interference and makes it easier to build big things in America without reducing existing environmental laws.

BAAJA is serious, comprehensive legislation that both sides can support, and it was developed in consultation with the White House. It needs to pass now before a new Congress is seated and Washington priorities change.

Thomas Rausch, Glen Ellyn