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DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20261109T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20261116T220000
DTSTAMP:20261110T050347Z
CREATED:20261106T210110Z
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UID:23399-1794232800-1794866400@phas-wsd.org
SUMMARY:Expected Monday\, Nov. 9: Senate vote on the permitting bill that would weaken NEPA\, ESA & the Clean Water Act.
DESCRIPTION:Expected Monday\, Nov. 9: first Senate vote on the permitting bill that would weaken NEPA\, ESA & the Clean Water Act. Call now\, before the vote.\n\nProcess: The U.S. Senate held its first vote  Monday 11/9/26 on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA\, S. 5653). This is the cloture vote to open debate\, and it passed the first vote 73-25 and 22 democrats voted for debate. This was not final passage\, it only allowed Senate to start considering the bill. \n. The 417-page bill would narrow environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)\, shorten Endangered Species Act consultation deadlines\, limit states’ and Tribes’ authority to put conditions on federal permits under Clean Water Act Section 401\, and weaken National Historic Preservation Act review. It would also fast-track oil and gas\, mining\, logging\, and large AI data centers. \nPlease call both of your U.S. Senators (Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121). You should eventually call representative also.  Tell them to strongly oppose S. 5653 (now HR 2347). If this moves forward\, passing it may take a week (you can keep making calls). \nS 5653 was not listed on the Monday agenda –  the bill on the agenda is a House Bill – HR 2347…The Surviver Justice Tax Prevention Act.  However HR 2347 is the vehicle they will use to introduce  & vote on S 5653. If cloture vote passes\, they will amend HR 2347 and change it’s content to S 5653.  Using a House already passed bill\, quickens the passage in the House\, during lame duck session.  As it moved forward on Monday night\, it is likely to take several days to move through the process and may be continued for further consideration next week – they don’t meet every day. \nCalls are useful any time before the final vote\, so don’t wait. Senate offices open at 7 a.m. Mountain / 8 a.m. Central. They also take voice mail messages after hours.  Much of the time \,Thune’s staff doesn’t answer the phone and often all you can do\, 8 to 5\,  is leave messages for him. \nSouth Dakota angle: Sen. Thune\, as Majority Leader\, controls when this vote happens and supports the bill. Rep. Dusty Johnson voted for the House version (the SPEED Act). We don’t expect to change their votes\, but they should hear from South Dakotans\, and the talking points below are aimed at what matters here. \nCall (as an individual constituent): \n\nSen. John Thune: DC (202) 224-2321 | Rapid City (605) 348-7551\nSen. Mike Rounds: DC (202) 224-5842 | Rapid City (605) 343-5035\nRep. Dusty Johnson (if the bill reaches the House): DC (202) 225-2801\nOr the Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121\n\nTalking points. Pick two or three that matter most to you. Calls go better in your own words. \n\nNEPA is how South Dakotans get a voice on Black Hills projects. Timber sales\, mining\, road building\, and grazing on the Black Hills National Forest all go through NEPA review. That review is where citizens\, ranchers\, hunters\, and Tribes find out what’s planned\, comment\, and get mistakes fixed before the damage is done. This bill would reduce the federal actions that require review\, narrow the alternatives agencies have to consider\, and exempt more projects completely. Fewer projects reviewed means fewer chances for local people to weigh in.\nLess time to catch problems\, and less ability to challenge them. The bill sets new deadlines and new limits on court challenges to permitting decisions. When an agency gets it wrong on a public forest\, a citizen challenge is often the only remedy left. Shutting that door rewards rushed decisions.\nMining in the Black Hills. The Black Hills have a long history of mining and its damage\, from Gilt Edge Mine\, now a Superfund site\, to polluted Whitewood Creek. New gold\, lithium\, uranium\, and rare earth mines are proposed in and around the Hills today. The bill is designed to speed approvals for mining. This is exactly where careful environmental review protects our water and saves taxpayers from cleanup bills.\nHistoric preservation and sacred sites. The Black Hills are sacred to the Lakota and other Tribal nations and full of archaeological and historic sites. The bill weakens National Historic Preservation Act review and would waive it for certain reissued nationwide permits. It also weakens Tribal consultation\, which affects South Dakota’s nine Tribal nations. Once a site is bulldozed\, it’s gone for good.\nState authority over our waters. Clean Water Act Section 401 lets South Dakota put water-quality conditions on federal permits for pipelines\, mines\, and other projects crossing our rivers and streams. The bill narrows that authority. Decisions about South Dakota’s water should stay in South Dakota.\nEndangered species. The bill shortens ESA consultation deadlines. The bill would allow states to assume responsibility for federal wildlife reviews\, leaving endangered species with different safeguards depending on where a project is located.  Scientific safeguards would be weakened. Some projects would bypass wildlife review altogether. This all means less careful review for species like the whooping crane\, pallid sturgeon\, and black-footed ferret.\nProject certainty language would lock in permits approved by the Trump administration\, making them nearly impossible for a future administration–even a pro-climate one–to revisit\, even if environmental reviews are flawed\, rushed\, or based on inadequate science.\nFix the real cause of delays. Permitting delays mostly come from understaffed\, underfunded agencies\, not from environmental laws. Fully staffing the Forest Service\, BLM\, and Fish & Wildlife Service would speed permits without cutting the public out.\n\nShort sample message: “I’m a constituent from [town]. Please vote NO on cloture for S. 5653\, the permitting bill. It weakens NEPA review\, which is how South Dakotans get a say on timber\, mining\, and other projects in the Black Hills. It also undercuts historic preservation and protection of sacred sites\, speeds up mining approvals\, and limits South Dakota’s own authority over our waters. Permits are slow mainly because federal agencies are understaffed. The answer is to give agencies the staff and funding they need\, not to cut the public out of decisions about our public lands.” \nHere is another comment suggested by John Muir Project: “Do not be fooled. S. 5653 will not make our lives better or more affordable; it would lay waste to our environment without recourse.  This bill would render the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)\, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) unenforceable in court\, allowing destructive development and energy projects to proceed without restraint even when the law has been violated.  BAAJA also threatens tribal sovereignty and eliminates protections for sacred and cultural sites\, as well as public lands\, waters (yes it further erodes protections under the Clean Water Act)\, and wildlife\, all while stripping away the ability of our communities to have a say in projects that will impact them. It would allow logging\, oil drilling\, and data centers to proceed without regard to their impacts and with no ability to stop them. In fact\, if this law passes\, once a permit is issued\, it would remain locked in for generations to come\, regardless of the impacts\, new science or changed circumstances.” \nFriends and family in other states: The votes that matter most are Democratic senators’ votes\, because 60 votes are needed. Please forward this to people in states with Democratic senators\, especially Oregon (Merkley\, Wyden)\, Illinois (Duckworth)\, Massachusetts (Markey)\, New Mexico\, Colorado\, Arizona\, Nevada\, Washington\, and California. Ask them to call their own senators and urge a NO vote. \nMore information: Western Environmental Law Center statement and policy analysis (https://westernlaw.org/)\, \nOcean Climate Action tool kit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gEvykG50LvO06uBZRt01Mr24m3XrlrEoc8iROMVk5vM/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.njmtwcon24f  \n| Bill text and summary (Congress.gov) \n  \n\nDefenders of Wildlife Advocacy Toolkit\nAnimal Commons\, ESC\, and others action alert- https://actionnetwork.org/letters/stop-environmental-rollbacks-in-the-senate-permitting-bill/\nWildEarth Guardians action alert – https://action.wildearthguardians.org/page/104254/action/1?ea.url.id=6217457\nDefenders of Wildlife action alert – https://act.defenders.org/page/103490/action/1\nWestern Watersheds Project action alert-  https://www.westernwatersheds.org/actionalerts/take-action-permitting-reform-would-put-wildlife-and-clean-water-at-risk/\n\n===== \nAdditional Resources\nOrganizational Letters\, Press Releases\, and Statements \n\nLetter – NGO Letter to Congress on Harmful BAAJA Ocean Provisions\nLetter – The Environmental Council of the States\nLetter – Attorney Generals of CA\, MA\, WA\, AZ\, DE\, IL\, ME\, OR\, VT\nLetter- Senators Duckworth\, Wyden\, Merkely\, Markey\nPress Release – WE ACT\nPress Release – Defenders of Wildlife\nPress Release – Center for Biological Diversity\nPress Release – Oil Change International \nPress Release – Southern Environmental Law Center\nStatement\, Refaluwasch Journal of Knowledge and Culture (RJKC)\nPress Release\, The Wilderness Society\nEndangered Species Coalition – https://defenders.org/sites/default/files/2026-10/Permitting-Bill-Advocacy-Toolkit.pdf\n\n  \nNews Articles \n\n\n\nHeatmap\, John Podesta Says Permitting Deal Hands Trump ‘a Loaded Howitzer’\n\n\n\n\nPolitico\, Here’s what’s inside the Senate’s new bipartisan permitting proposal \n\n\nSubstack\, The BAAJA Scorecar – tracks Members of Congress and their support of the bill. \n\n  \nBill Analyses \n\nUnion of Concerned Scientists\, The Senate Permitting Deal Could Lock in Fossil Fuel Dominance for Generations\nFishery Friendly Climate Action Campaign\, The Permitting Bill Fishermen Can’t Afford to Ignore\nBill Analysis\, NRDC\, NRDC Assessment of BAAJA\, the 2026 Permitting and Transmission Bill\n\n\nBill Analysis\, Columbia University\, Senate Bipartisan Permit Reform Bill Would Upend Many Environmental Laws\nBill Analysis\, Holland & Knight\n\n\nBill Analysis\, Jeremy Symons\, Substack\, This is not the permit reform deal that was advertised (Note: this piece includes considerable analysis of Title IV on Project Certainty)\nExpert Blog\, Earthjustice\, What Will BAAJA Do? Whatever the Trump Administration Wants\nExpert Blog\, Earthjustice\, How the Senate’s Permitting Bill Could Lock in Deep-Sea Mining for Years to Come\nExpert Blog\, NRDC – Hard Questions About the Permitting Bill\nExpert Blog\, NRDC – How the Senate’s Permitting Bill Could Lock in Deep-Sea Mining for Years to Come\nExpert Article\, Yale Journal of Regulation\, The Muddy Waters of BAAJA\nLegal Analysis\, David Bookbinder\nFact Sheet\, Oceana\nFact Sheet\, Center for Biological Diversity\nFact Sheet\, Defenders of Wildlife\nFact sheet\, Climate Justice Alliance\, Permitting Reform Myths vs. Facts\n\n 
URL:https://phas-wsd.org/event/expected-monday-nov-9-senate-vote-on-the-permitting-bill-that-would-weaken-nepa-esa-the-clean-water-act/
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20261110T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20261110T203000
DTSTAMP:20261106T203557Z
CREATED:20261106T201616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20261106T203557Z
UID:23386-1794333600-1794342600@phas-wsd.org
SUMMARY:Jack Gladstone - "Montana's Troubadour" Preforms at the Journey in Rapid City
DESCRIPTION:Jack Gladstone – “Montana’s Troubadour” Preforms at the Journey in Rapid City in the evening.
URL:https://phas-wsd.org/event/jack-gladstone-montanas-troubadour-preforms-at-the-journey-in-rapid-city/
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://phas-wsd.org/wp-content/uploads/Jack-Gladstone-Flyer-Word-Ver-4-FINAL-003.jpg
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