Thread 🧵on why I think it's a big mistake for progressives and environmental justice advocates to kill a permitting reform deal in the current lame duck session of Congress. Permitting reform is crucially important for both the climate and frontline communities [1/10]
https://twitter.com/ninalakhani/status/1600522282849501185
Everyone agrees we need to speed up the rate at which we build electricity transmission. Otherwise we can't connect new wind & solar to the grid fast enough, and as @JesseJenkins' team found, we would squander 80% of the Inflation Reduction Act's potential emissions cuts [2/10] 
The IRA would also increase electricity demand in 2030 by incentivizing EVs, electric heat pumps, induction stoves, etc. If we don't speed up our clean energy infrastructure build-out, @JesseJenkins' team found that demand will be met by burning more fossil fuels [3/10]
That means more air pollution in frontline communities located near coal power plants. Analyses found that the IRA would save up to 180k lives by phasing out fossil fuel air pollution. Slow clean energy deployment would mean thousands more deaths in frontline communities [4/10]
The concern is that Manchin's deal also makes it easier to build fossil fuel infrastructure. A little bit, but they *already* have the advantage. It's easier to build fossil gas pipelines and drill for oil than to build electric transmission lines and drill for geothermal [5/10]
Permitting reform would level that playing field. And demand for clean energy is exploding as experts project demand for fossil fuels is peaking. 93% of electricity projects waiting in the queue in the US are wind & solar. Clean energy would benefit [6/10] yaleclimateconnections.org/2022/10/permit…
The proposed reforms also wouldn't undermine NEPA or other environmental laws. They would just make some changes to speed up the process. That would give communities less time to weigh in, but they would still have the opportunity to be involved and make their voices heard [7/10]
Opponents have said there are better ways to speed up the process, like the Environmental Justice For All Act. But with Republicans about to take the House and nowhere near 60 supporters in the Senate, that bill has precisely zero chance of being passed [8/10]
In fact, any permitting reform deal will only get *more fossil fuel friendly* in 2023 than what could potentially pass this month. Opposing the current deal is counter-productive because any future deal will only add more provisions that justice advocates dislike [9/10]
There is no better time than the present to pass a permitting reform deal that will help unlock the IRA's potential climate pollution reductions and save lives in frontline communities living near dirty fossil fuel pollution sources. Blowing this opportunity is a mistake [10/10]
Case in point: the critical FERC transmission authority expansions are already being weakened because Republicans don't like them. They'll only be further watered down when Republicans control the House.
https://twitter.com/AriPeskoe/status/1600543573862064128
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