Stop the Pipelines
Congress’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is nothing but Big, Bad, and Backwards for Pipeline Policy and Community Health & Safety
The budget bill before the U.S. Senate— dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”— lays out plans for income tax breaks, increased border security and immigration application fees, and even funding cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and children’s health insurance programs.
But did you know that deep within the bill, there are incredibly harmful pro-pipeline policies that undermine states’ rights and put our communities and environments at risk?
Section 41004 of the proposed “Big Beautiful Bill”:
- Allows pipeline companies to buy fast-tracked review of their permit applications if they pay $10 million or 1% of the expected cost of project construction (whichever is less);
- Strips away states’ rights by requiring state agencies, federal agencies, and interstate agencies to approve pipeline projects (and related infrastructure), only allowing the agencies to establish conditions to be met for pipeline construction and operation. The ability to reject a proposal is entirely eliminated;
- Regards projects as approved if regulatory agencies are unable to meet a prescribed one-year deadline for application review and the company refuses to agree to an extension of time;
- Only allows impacted property owners or communities to bring a challenge if they can demonstrate economic harm, completely disregarding the safety issues, health harms, and the environmental damages these projects inflict; and
- Raises the cost of a legal challenge for many communities by requiring all challenges be brought before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, which imposes steep travel costs and legal/logistical barriers for communities outside of the DC metro area.
FERC-regulated pipelines and LNG infrastructure have ravaged communities by inflicting irreparable damage to our yards, farmlands, businesses, and precious community parks and preserved lands; by spewing pollution at levels that harm the health of our children, friends, and families; by bringing an ever-present threat of accidents, incidents, and explosions that have destroyed our sense of safety; and by degrading cherished environments that enrich lives and offer critical flooding and drinking water protections.
These dangerous provisions strip communities of their ability to protect their homes and businesses from fossil fuel development, and in turn denies them the ability to support and protect their children, their families, and themselves from unnecessary and unfair harm.
What can we do about it?
Our communities– which have already been scarred and damaged by FERC-regulated pipelines, compressor stations, and LNG facilities– deserve better!
Victory Over InFRACKStructure, Clean Energy InStead (VOICES)– a coalition of 250+ organizations founded and led by Delaware Riverkeeper Network– has written a letter urging Senators to vote NO on the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which contains devastating pro-pipeline provisions that would undermine states’ rights and property rights, perpetuate environmental and health harm on our communities, and create a Pay-to-Play scheme whereby big industry polluters can very literally buy the permits they desire.
We are asking organizations to sign on to the letter, so we may send the signed version to Senators that includes the total membership of all the individuals we represent. As more and more organizations sign on, the letter will be resubmitted to Senators to remind them of our presence and ever-growing people power!
SIGN ON YOUR ORGANIZATION TODAY AT: bit.ly/VOICES_Reconcil_SignOn
How did the “Big Beautiful Bill” come to be?
The “Big Beautiful Bill” is part of budget reconciliation, a process used by the United States Congress to pass federal spending, tax, and debt limit legislation with only a simple majority in the Senate (as opposed to the usual supermajority requirement of 60 votes). This process typically leads to a flurry of policies being compacted into one large omnibus bill, as seen in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” the Inflation Reduction Act, and COVID-19 Stimulus Package. The policies included in the bill can cover a wide range of topics such as tax cuts, clean energy investment, and prescription drug costs, and congress members will argue that such policies are in-line with federal budget directives. The House and the Senate are required to pass identical versions of this ‘reconciliation package’ before it can get signed into law. As such, the reconciliation process entails a lot of negotiation and deal-making between individual legislators and entire political parties.
On May 22, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed their version of the reconciliation package in a narrow 215 – 214 vote. The bill is now in the hands of the Senate, where in order to get a majority vote, there will likely be lots of debate, amending, and arguments that certain provisions are extraneous and should be deleted. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated that he hopes the reconciliation process will be completed by July 4, 2025– so we are expecting a lot of critical Senate discussion over the next month!
Background
The ‘VOICES’ Campaign
February 5, 2020: Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum testified on at a Congressional hearing titled “Modernizing the Natural Gas Act to Ensure it Works for Everyone”, held by the Subcommittee on Energy of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network has been documenting the abuses of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in a comprehensive Dossier and, with the VOICES (Victory Over InFRACKstructure, Clean Energy inStead) coalition, has been calling on Congress to hold investigative hearings into FERC and pass needed reforms to the Natural Gas Act for over four years. van Rossum called for reforms to the Natural Gas Act, written over 80 years ago, which has been used to proliferate natural gas pipelines and enable FERC’s abuses. Among these abuses are FERC’s use of tolling orders that place people in legal limbo, unable to meaningfully challenge a pipeline decision in court; its failure to consider climate change impacts when approving projects; approval of construction before states and other agencies have given needed approvals; and failure to demonstrate project need.
Maya’s testimony drew strong responses from the Congress members in the room. Many asked pointed questions intended to underscore the messages of her testimony, including Chairman Frank Pallone (NJ). Representative Nanette Barragan (CA) tweeted video clip of Maya’s testimony and echoed her concerns. Fossil fuel advocate Representative David McKinley (WV) confronted Maya, calling her “a threat to this economic development in West Virginia and maybe the country, for that matter,” because she is “so adamantly opposed to fracking.” He referenced EPA statements from 2011 and said “fracking’s been around 1860, 1840” in defense of the devastating extraction practice. Maya was joined in the room by members of VOICES who traveled from various states to stand in support and solidarity, holding up scarves reading “#FERCAbuses Communities & Environment”. DRN and VOICES continue urge Congress to enact need NGA reforms to remedy FERC’s abuses.
- As shale gas extraction continues the infrastructure to advance and serve it is proliferating into communities throughout our watershed and beyond. Communities are eager for information, strategies, and collaborations they can use to help defeat the pipeline, compressor, LNG facility, process plant, cracker plant that threatens their community. We hope the below resources and actions are helpful.
- And if you would like the Delaware Riverkeeper Network to come and talk to your community about how to challenge a pipeline, compressor or other infrastructure project email keepermaya@delawareriverkeeper.org.
- In addition to the links provided be sure to take a look at the expert reports, policy documents and maps provided on the list below.
- Get an overview of the impacts of pipelines for communities and the environment by reviewing the Delaware Riverkeeper Network Pipeline White Paper.
- The irreparable harms pipelines inflict on wetlands is an important regulatory battleground. Learn more about those harms so you can be better informed for the debate. Wetlands report.
- Learn more about how Pipelines inflict more harm than they have to. We don’t want any of these pipelines cutting through our watershed and communities, but if the battle is lost, there is a way they can be constructed that makes them far less harmful. Learn more about the construction practices associated with Pipelines. Pipeline ROW report.
- Gas drilling and pipelines are a major concern for bat populations, already being devastated by other threats and harms. Click the link to see a copy of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network commissioned report. Bat report.
- Proliferation of pipelines is intimately connected to the shale gas extraction invasion taking place in communities across PA and beyond. Learn more.
- Some background on pipelines and their safety record across the country in this video.
- The Delaware Riverkeeper’s presentation of the first pipeline petition to the DRBC on September 12, 2012 on video here.
- How compressors associated with pipelines have impacted lives in this video.
- Wetlands harms imposed by an Upper Delaware River pipeline and the callous disregard of the company and the agencies in this video.
- More pipeline harms in this video.
To see what happened at a March 6, 2013 DRBC meeting where citizens demanded action on pipelines see this video.
Delaware Riverkeeper Network presents Pipeline Lessons video series: To help residents understand the damage caused by natural gas pipelines and provide guidance on the science, law and strategies Delaware Riverkeeper Network presents the Pipeline Lessons video series.
Among the experts interviewed:
- Accufacts Incorporated President Rich Kuprewicz discussing pipeline safety issues and the route selection process.
- Michelle Adams, a civil engineer with Meliora Associates is featured discussing the weaker regulatory standards shale gas operations face compared to other land developments.
- Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum talks about how citizens can organize and strategies to fight proposed pipelines.
- Environmental scientist Wilma Subra examines the environmental health effects associated with shale gas extraction and pipelines.
- Delaware Riverkeeper Network staff attorney Aaron Stemplewicz discusses the legal actions property owners can take whose land is targeted for pipeline installations.
- Leslie Sauer, ecological restoration expert, looks at the construction impacts of pipelines.
You can watch the Pipeline Lessons series on the Delaware Riverkeeper Network’s YouTube Channel