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We must Defend Environmental Protections, champion a functional NEPA
The House Natural Resources Committee recently introduced and passed a bill targeting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our nation's basic framework for protecting the environment.
The SPEED Act, H.R. 4776, would, by most accounts, undercut, undermine, if not gut, NEPA’s core principles and commitments. It would undoubtedly change the way NEPA is viewed within agencies and its role in providing a community check on potentially impactful projects: proposals such as new power plants, highways, oil and gas development, and logging. The bill would allow such projects to move forward without sufficient consideration of the harmful environmental impacts such proposals might impose.
Please urge your representative in the House to oppose the SPEED Act as it proceeds further!
Top-line advocate perspectives on the SPEED Act:
- It would prioritize the interests of fossil fuel, mining, and other corporate actors at the expense of families and communities
- It would challenge NEPA's status as a bedrock environmental law; in so doing, it guts a vital tool available to taxpayers
- The Trump Administration has pushed executive orders regarding NEPA, and this proposal goes beyond those, further prioritizing industry interests above the public interest
- This proposal jeopardizes our air, water, and climate for the benefit of corporate actors
- This proposal challenges one of our bedrock protections
Analysis:
- BPC’s What’s in the SPEED Act? Issue brief
- Earthjustice Action’s Statement on SPEED Act
- House committee marks up SPEED Act that would renounce, not reform, environmental protections nationwide, Western Environmental Law Center
As of General Assembly 2024, as Unitarian Universalists, we have agreed to “adopt new language on core religious values.” We agree love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. The values we share include all the following, which we hold as inseparable and deeply interconnected: Interdependence, Pluralism, Justice, Transformation, Generosity, and Equity. (Read more on the Article II revision process.)
With these agreed core religious values in mind, we also ground our call to action related to environment and climate justice issues in the following Unitarian Universalist Statements:
- Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, 2021 Statement of Conscience
- Build the Movement for a Green New Deal, 2019 Action of Immediate Witness
- Our Democracy Uncorrupted, 2019 Statement of Conscience
- We Are All Related: Solidarity NOW with Indigenous Water Protectors, 2018 Action of Immediate Witness
- Escalating Economic Inequity, 2017 Statement of Conscience
- Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice, 2011 Statement of Conscience
- Earth, Air, Water, and Fire, 1997 General Resolution
- Environmental Justice, 1994 General Resolution
- Safer Sources of Energy, 1992 General Resolution
- Protecting the Biosphere, 1989 General Resolution
- Toxic Substances and Hazardous Waste, 1984 General Resolution
- Problem of Environmental Policy, 1977 General Resolution
We must Defend Environmental Protections, champion a functional NEPA
The House Natural Resources Committee recently passed a bill targeting the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), our nation's basic framework for protecting the environment.
The SPEED Act, H.R. 4776, would, by most accounts, undercut, undermine, if not gut, NEPA’s core principles and commitments. The bill would allow projects to move forward without considering the harmful environmental impacts that such proposals might impose.
Please urge your representative in the House to oppose the SPEED Act as it proceeds further!
Sorry, we're not targeting legislators in your district. But, you can still help!
Become a Member!
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) has been the leader for a national UU advocacy movement in Washington, DC., and will continue our efforts, acting from:
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Our conviction that Black Lives Matter
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Our belief that No Human Being is Illegal
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Our care for the planet which sustains us all and merits respect
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Our commitment to a people-centered sustainable economy
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Our stance that this democracy should be inclusive
We appreciate your effort!
Become a Member!
Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) has been the leader for a national UU advocacy movement in Washington, DC., and will continue its efforts, including furthering our conviction that Black Lives Matter!