Schumer Faces Protest Over Data Center Permitting Bill

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act (BAAJA), introduced in September, would accelerate permitting for energy projects ranging from renewable power and transmission lines to oil and gas pipelines. Schumer (D-NY), who is seeking to remain Senate majority leader, has not publicly stated his position, Heatmap reported.

Environmental justice and Indigenous rights groups say the bill could weaken environmental protections, tribal sovereignty and the public’s ability to challenge projects in court. It would expand the authority of the Republican-controlled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve interstate transmission lines. Jeremy Symons of the Environmental Protection Network warned that the commission could hypothetically permit Elon Musk to build a coal-powered data center in the Grand Canyon, where “no one can do anything.”

The bill was introduced by Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM). Whitehouse is the lead Democratic sponsor. Forbes reported that his data center-related holdings are valued at between $2.1 million and $8.6 million; Sludge reported that he and his wife hold up to $12.3 million in AI-related stocks.

Food & Water Watch and more than 160 other groups urged Congress in a letter Thursday to reject the bill, citing energy demand, grid costs, air and water pollution, and public-health and climate impacts. Activists from Food & Water Watch, New York Communities for Change, 350Brooklyn, Climate Families NYC and Indivisible Brooklyn plan to bring a smoking data-center prop and a giant “blank check” to Schumer’s Park Slope apartment, then continue to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries’ Fort Greene office.

The protest comes amid local opposition to data center development: voters in 10 states approved 43 of 44 initiatives to ban or pause data centers or infrastructure above certain sizes, according to the source. Food & Water Watch policy director Jim Walsh said the industry was eyeing public lands as a way around community resistance. A former aide to a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee called the bill “a test for Schumer’s leadership campaign.”