Bobby Clark

I have tremendous respect for the two Democratic Senators who have negotiated the permitting bill with two of their Republican colleagues — a bill that Congress is considering for passage during the lame duck session. I sincerely and respectfully urge the Democratic sponsors of the bill to reconsider their decision to move forward with this legislation. There’s no doubt that we need to reform the way that clean energy projects are reviewed and permitted. But as it currently stands, the bill would be an extremely serious mistake, in my opinion, and would do far more harm than good. Given how this Administration has run roughshod over the environmental laws and protections that are currently in place, now is not the time to give the Trump administration freer rein to double down on fossil fuels — which is what President Trump would surely do. And after last week’s historic election, we will have a new Congress in January that can strike a far better balance.