
BAAJA: The Most Dangerous Legislation You've Never Heard of and How to Stop It
So I was all set to release a really thought provoking set of interviews exploring the highly controversial plan to kill thousands of Barred Owls every year in a hail mary effort to save the spotted owl from extinction... But I just learned this week about an incredibly consequential bill quietly sneaking its way through congress, and time is of the essence on this one so the barred owl debate will have to wait. The so-called Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (or “BAAJA”) is framed as an effort to accelerate permitting for infrastructure projects, including renewable energy. But environmentalists and climate organizations and activists, including no less than Bill McKibben, say it would likely have the opposite effect, entrenching fossil fuel projects for years or decades to come and further eviscerating environmental protection in order to do so. The Western Environmental Law Center, also known as WELC, is one of the groups sounding the alarm about this bill, which Republicans could sneak through after the elections. To learn all about BAAJA and what we can do to stop it, I’m joined by WELC’s executive director, Erik Schlenker-Goodrich. Say hello! Send feedback to coastrangeradio@gmail.com, we respond to every email. Show notes: https://westernlaw.org/ WELC Analysis of BAAJA: https://westernlaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026.10.23-BAAJA-Policy-Analysis.pdf Bill McKibben Substack on why we need clean energy fast, but this bill is not the answer https://www.instagram.com/coastrangeradio/