URGENT: New York Times Pushing the SPEED Act Gifted Article

[Ellen Thomas]

Aloha Friends,

Sorry to be nagging you all about the SPEED Act again, but the New York Times just came out today with an editorial pushing for the Senate to take action on it before summer.

If it passes as written, NEPA environmental review as we know it will be gutted forever — no more court injunctions, cumulative impact analysis, no more new science, and severely limited public oversight, codifying Trump’s Executive Orders permanently into law. They are rushing this before the November elections.

Please put this on your radar. We need to be strategizing and taking action to kill this. If you live in New Mexico — Senator Heinrich and Whitehouse hold the power on this and are currently negotiating the Senate version of the bill.

Here’s the gifted link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/08/opinion/permit-reform-economy-climate-us.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g1A.BR39.q-AZ6hR0PWHB&smid=nytcore-ios-share

Here is my analysis of the SPEED Act: https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/03/17/the-speed-act-and-the-pandoras-box-of-permitting-reform/

Here is my letter to the New York Times submitted today:

Aloha Editors,

Your editorial, “America’s Arrested Development,” calling for passage of the SPEED Act before summer recess ignores how the bill would strip American citizens of their rights to oversee industrial development in their communities.

The SPEED Act would slash the time the public has to challenge federal approvals in court from six years to 150 days, eliminate court injunctions against unlawful projects, and strip cumulative environmental impact analysis and new scientific evidence from review. This applies to every federally permitted project: AI data centers, pipelines, nuclear facilities, and mining operations — not just the renewable energy your editorial highlights.

In his opposition to the bill, Rep. Jared Huffman said: “The most effective, proven way to speed permitting is to ensure we have properly staffed and trained federal permitting offices.” Instead, DOGE has decimated that staffing. Huffman also warned that the SPEED Act “treats public input like it’s an annoyance rather than a resource.”

Congress already significantly reformed NEPA through the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Act, and the ADVANCE Act is gutting the NRC. Rushing permanent deregulation through before voters weigh in this fall is not a policy argument — it’s a political one. The SPEED Act should wait until after the November elections.

Lynda Williams

Physicist, Nuclear Free Hawai’i
Hilo, Hawai’i​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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