Friday the 13th Action Alert: Tell Blumenthal & Murphy to Vote NO on BAAJA (S. 5653)

Don’t let the Senate slash safety, silence workers, and unleash a bad deal. 

What’s at Stake in S. 5653?

• Cuts Corners on Safety: Gutting bedrock National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Clean Water Act reviews allows major energy and transmission projects to skip basic safety checks, risking worker health and drinking water.
• Silences Communities & Sovereign Tribes: Slashes public comment windows down to 45–60 days and bypasses meaningful government-to-government Tribal consultations under the NHPA.
• Forces Ratepayers to Subsidize Big Tech: Fast-tracks gas pipelines and power plants to fuel energy-hungry AI data centers, driving up electricity bills for everyday families.
• Locks in Corporate Mistakes: "Project certainty" rules make it nearly impossible for regulators to pause or revoke permits once issued—even if construction causes toxic leaks, structural failure, or water contamination.

Tell Blumenthal & Murphy to Vote NO on BAAJA (S. 5653)

Script for Richard Blumenthal

Objective: Push back on his vote to open debate and demand a "NO" on final cloture and final passage.

Phone: Washington Office: (202) 224-2823 | Hartford Office: (860) 258-6940

(Or dial the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121)

Caller:

"Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I am a union member with UCPEA, AFT Local 3695 living in [City/Town], Connecticut, ZIP code [Your ZIP].

I am calling this Friday the 13th to express deep frustration that Senator Blumenthal voted on Monday to advance debate on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (S. 5653 / BAAJA), which would be a nightmare for working families.

This bill is a bad deal for Connecticut working families. While we need real transmission and clean energy jobs, rushing major projects by gutting NEPA reviews, shrinking public comment to 45–60 days, and stripping court remedies leaves workers and communities exposed to toxic shortcuts and unsafe buildouts.

Senator Blumenthal has always championed consumer protection, corporate accountability, and labor rights. Advancing debate is one thing, but rubber-stamping corporate immunity is another.

I urge the Senator to stand with labor: refuse to support second cloture, and vote NO on final passage of S. 5653. Thank you."

Script for Chris Murphy

Objective: Urge him to leverage his uncommitted position by voting "NO" on cloture and final passage.

Phone: Washington Office: (202) 224-4041 | Hartford Office: (860) 549-8463

(Or dial the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121)

Caller:

"Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I am a union member with UCPEA, AFT Local 3695 living in [City/Town], Connecticut, ZIP code [Your ZIP].

I am calling this Friday the 13th to urge Senator Murphy to take a clear stand against the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (S. 5653 / BAAJA), which would be a nightmare for working families. 

Senator Murphy did not cast a vote on Monday’s motion to proceed, and the Democratic caucus is deeply divided over this bill. As the Senate prepares for floor votes, our union needs him to stand firmly on the side of working people and frontline communities.

S. 5653 rolls back critical environmental protections under the guise of 'efficiency.' It silences community input, limits judicial oversight, and lets corporate polluters lock in permits that put worker safety and local health at risk.

We need real infrastructure investment, but not at the cost of our rights. Please ask Senator Murphy to actively oppose this bill, vote NO on cloture, and vote NO on final passage. Thank you."

The Social Justice Committee’s Concerns about the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (S. 5653 / BAAJA)

Introduced by leaders from the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the legislation aims to speed up federal reviews and approvals for large-scale energy and infrastructure projects:

Grid & Transmission Reform: 

Streamlines federal permitting and interregional planning to build high-voltage electric transmission lines and modernize the power grid.

Issues: Normally, the government must carefully study how a massive power line will impact local water, wildlife, and land before construction begins. This bill lets developers skip those basic checks and rush through approvals just to shave time off the schedule.

• It shuts out everyday people and Native tribes. High-voltage lines stretch for hundreds of miles, crossing backyards, towns, and ancestral lands. The bill slashes the time the public has to speak up, weakens required talks with Tribal leaders, and makes it almost impossible to challenge a bad route in court.
• It locks in bad mistakes and fossil fuels. Power lines carry all electricity—not just solar and wind, but also gas and coal, much of it pushed to feed power-hungry computer data centers. Worse, the bill says once a company gets its permit, the government can almost never change it or cancel it—even if workers discover later that the line is poisoning drinking water or bulldozing a sacred burial site.

Energy Infrastructure & Data Centers: 

Expedites review processes to build facilities powering expanding energy-intensive sectors, including AI data centers, power generation, and pipelines.

Issues: Massive artificial intelligence data centers use astronomical amounts of electricity and water. To keep them running, this bill speeds up approvals for new power plants and gas pipelines. This forces normal communities to host loud, polluting facilities and deal with higher electric bills to keep giant tech companies powered up with fossil fuels. 

• Fast-tracking pipelines and power plants will lock in decades of new natural gas development, wiping out clean energy gains just to feed power-hungry AI server farms.
• Expediting approvals means neighborhoods near new data centers face massive spikes in noise, air pollution from diesel backup generators, and strained municipal water supplies used for computer cooling.
• Even with provisions meant to assign costs, building massive new generation and pipeline capacity at breakneck speed will ultimately drive up utility rates for everyday families, just to subsidize Big Tech. 

Environmental Review Streamlining: 

Modifies review procedures and timelines under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). It sets tighter deadlines for public comments and limits certain judicial remedies that halt projects solely due to procedural review delays.

Issues: For over 50 years, federal laws have required companies to show their work: What will this do to our drinking water? Will it pollute the air? What do the neighbors think? This bill slaps strict, rushed deadlines on those checks, gives the public very little time to read the plans or speak out, and tells judges they can't freeze construction even if the government skipped basic safety rules. 

• Shortening review timelines and expanding loopholes under NEPA, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act allows big industrial projects to bypass detailed scrutiny of their real risks. 
• Shrinking public comment periods to as little as 45 to 60 days makes it nearly impossible for everyday citizens, volunteer groups, or under-resourced towns to review thousands of pages of technical plans and object. 

• Stripping judges of the power to halt construction over procedural flaws removes the primary check that holds federal agencies and corporate developers accountable when they break the law. 

  
  

Project Certainty: 

Establishes protections to reduce the risk of permits being arbitrarily revoked or stalled after approval.

Issues: Once a company gets its construction permit, it is essentially stamped in stone. Even if new evidence reveals that a pipeline is cracking, a power plant is poisoning a nearby reservoir, or a construction crew discovers an unmapped cultural site, the government legally cannot pull the brakes. It gives private companies total legal protection while leaving the public to absorb the danger. 

• Projects cannot be halted even if unforeseen toxic leaks, landslides, or water contamination occur later.
• These provisions prevent a new administration or state oversight board from correcting flawed approvals or updating safety requirements as technologies and environmental conditions change. 
• If a developer causes unforeseen damage, the high legal bar to suspend a locked-in permit leaves local communities and taxpayers holding the bill for cleanup and disaster relief.