Senate Votes Today on Permitting Overhaul to Fast-track Federal Land Grab
The U.S. Senate today holds a procedural vote on a sweeping federal permitting bill to bypass state and local control over energy, infrastructure, transmission, mining, manufacturing, and other major projects.
S. 5653, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (BAAJA), was introduced September 30 by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). President Trump has endorsed the bill, describing it as an opportunity to overhaul a slow federal approval process for projects such as power grids and AI data centers.
However, the Hume family of Peetz, Colorado, knows better. They have been battling carbon capture pipelines for years and alert Americans to the dangers of this legislation on their website, HumeFarmstead.com, warning that the BAAJA would:
Name CO2 pipelines and CO2 injection wells as protected projects, with taxpayer-paid damages to developers if permits are slowed.
Let new natural gas compressor stations skip environmental review.
Give you just 150 days to challenge a federal approval in court.
Add no safety rules and no eminent domain limits for CO2.
Local politicians are also opposed. “I heard the phrase ‘streamline the acquisition of property,’” said Frank Kloucek, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission candidate, in a press release. “That property belongs to somebody. The people who own it deserve to know what rights Congress is asking them to give up.”
“Here we go again!” South Dakota rancher Ed Fischbach added in an email. “This bill is an attempt to bypass state and local review processes and grant quick approval of CO2 pipelines, data centers, and other schemes that corporations and special interests concoct.”
Today’s vote is a procedural “cloture vote” on whether to begin consideration. It requires 60 votes but would not pass the bill. A failed vote would stall the measure, sending it back to the drawing board, while a successful one would open floor debate.
The bill would apply nationwide, and the outcome will affect every American. Find your legislators at FreedomIndex.us, and contact your senators today to express your opposition.
