The Wilderness Society opposes S.5653

Washington D.C. - As the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (S.5653) moves closer to a Senate vote, The Wilderness Society warns of its irreversible threats to some of the most cherished and visited public lands, including Boundary Waters, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, Chaco Canyon and the Arctic.

While the bill includes important provisions for transmission, The Wilderness Society expressed its grave concerns about several provisions that would sell out our shared public lands to fossil fuel drilling, hardrock mining and AI data centers, silence public input and erode Tribal sovereignty.  

Tracy Stone-Manning, President of The Wilderness Society, said:  

"With overwhelming support, Americans across the country have spent decades protecting our country's most iconic landscapes like the Arctic, the Boundary Waters and Bears Ears National Monument. This bill puts those places — and millions of acres of other public lands — on a one-way path to industrial development, from oil and gas to data centers. That's a reality we aren't willing to accept, and neither should our elected officials.   

A clean energy future is possible and necessary, but not at the expense of our country's conservation heritage, the clean water our public lands deliver and the loss of cherished sacred sites and cultural histories.   

Our country is capable of hard and great things. It can and must deliver clean energy, protected lands and tribal sovereignty to future generations. This particular attempt unfortunately fails to do so, and our elected officials should reject it."