President-elect Donald Trump today pledged to expedite approvals and permits, including environmental approvals, for companies investing $1 billion or more in the United States. 

In response, Evergreen Action Executive Director Lena Moffitt released the following statement:

“President-elect Trump is treating America’s energy policy like a cheap knickknack at an estate sale: brazenly offering to auction off our public lands and waters to the highest bidder. 

Trump’s promise to fast-track environmental approvals for billion-dollar kickbacks is nothing but an illegal giveaway to fossil fuel special interests. Federal law requires rigorous review processes to protect the public interest, not rubber stamps for corporate polluters. Trump’s plan would turn a system already rigged in favor of fossil fuel interests into one openly driven by corruption, where special interests dictate policy and everyday Americans pay the price.

“Americans are already paying the price for a system that is overly reliant on expensive fossil fuels. Trump boasts about slashing energy costs in half within 12 months of taking office, yet he’s standing in the way of reliable, affordable, clean energy solutions that lower energy costs for Americans. Now he’s making it official: If you write a big enough check, his administration will let you break the rules and drive up costs for working families.”

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