Maksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock.com
Take Action: Call Your Senator to Protect Our Health & Future
From cutting Medicaid to slashing programs that help hungry kids, the House-passed budget reconciliation bill proposes drastic cuts that will harm the most vulnerable in society to fund massive tax breaks and handouts to corporate polluters. Families will see higher energy bills, dirtier air, and fewer protections while billionaires and fossil fuel CEOs walk away with millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies and obscene profits.
In addition to the headline-grabbing cuts of this legislation, House Republicans also want to allow fossil fuel companies to "pay to pollute" and have their permits automatically approved.
Put simply, companies would pay a fee to skirt legally-required project reviews and get automatic permit approvals for everything from gas export facilities to fracked gas pipeline projects. This means there will be virtually no federal oversight into how these dirty, dangerous infrastructure projects impact our air, water, or economy.
No amount of money is worth the risks of bypassing these federal review processes for fossil fuel projects that would operate for decades, often owned by companies with long histories of violating environmental regulations.
For projects that cost billions of dollars, these prices placed on ignoring environmental regulations are insultingly low in comparison. Liquefied methane gas, known as LNG, export companies would be allowed to pay a $1 million fee to bypass standard federal review processes. The fee would trigger an automatic designation of these projects as being “in the public interest,” effectively stripping the Department of Energy of its authority to assess the long-term environmental and economic impacts of these projects.
CP2, an LNG export project with the annual estimated greenhouse gas emissions of 54 coal-fired power plants, would cost around $28 billion dollars in total. And yet House Republicans insist that companies who pay just $1 million to the federal government should get their LNG exports automatically approved in exchange, ignoring any possible harms the project may bring to our communities.
It is clear that justifying LNG exports as in the public interest is a hard sell, so Republicans are giving these companies an easy out.
New and expanded gas export facilities pose a threat to Gulf Coast communities that are already overburdened by industrial pollution and are already experiencing the worst effects of extreme weather driven by climate change. It’s a vicious cycle as we know gas exports supercharge the climate crisis.
Proposed and existing LNG terminals are estimated to emit nearly 3,500 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year if built – that’s equivalent to 920 coal plants or 815 million gasoline-powered cars. All that pollution also has dire and expensive impacts on public health for communities who live near these polluting facilities.
According to an analysis by Sierra Club and Greenpeace USA, permitted emissions from both currently operating and planned LNG terminals are estimated to have major impacts to communities’ public health. Already, LNG export terminals operating before late 2024 cause an estimated 60 premature deaths and other health impacts equivalent to $957 million per year. If all the planned terminals and expansion projects are built, these numbers would increase to 149 premature deaths or $2.33 billion in equivalent health impacts per year.
It’s not just communities on the frontlines of these facilities that are harmed. LNG exports diminish domestic energy supplies and raise prices for American consumers.
The Trump administration claims on one hand that the nation is facing an “energy emergency,” but the true “energy emergency” is Trump cutting off investment in clean, affordable, reliable energy sources and pushing for domestic energy to be shipped overseas.
According to recent DOE analysis, expanded LNG exports would lead to a “triple-cost increase to U.S. consumers.” And in May 2025, the US Energy Information Administration identified LNG exports as a reason for increasing energy prices. With the cost of living already straining household budgets, the legislation will worsen inequality and climate injustice, disproportionately impacting low-income communities and communities of color.
Republicans are also trying to give pipeline companies a sweetheart deal to avoid any scrutiny into their polluting practices.
The Republican budget bill would allow gas infrastructure developers to secure expedited permitting from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by paying $10 million or 1% of the project’s projected cost. These FERC approvals would extend to permits governed under the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act—potentially overriding state-level environmental protections.
Republicans in Congress are not only trying to stack the deck in the favor of corporate polluters with these ‘pay to pollute’ schemes, but they are also attempting to take away any tools communities, advocates, or landowners have to fight these dangerous, dirty projects in their backyards.
The Republican bill allows for companies to ignore eminent domain requirements, meaning they can seize land without the consent of the owner. On top of that, it seeks to tie the hands of those landowners, communities, or advocates from suing companies that are bad actors.
This isn’t just a handout—it’s a wholesale gutting of public oversight. It’s time for the Senate to take a stand for people over polluters and reject this legislation. You can take action now!