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Federal permitting bill advances, alarming Ho-Chunk Nation over sacred lands and transmission line
The U.S. Senate advanced the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, which would let federal regulators override state decisions on transmission lines and weaken tribal consultation requirements. Ho-Chunk President Jon Greendeer warns the bill threatens generations of stewardship and could fast-track a 190-mile line across cultural sites.
MADISON, Wis. â The U.S. Senate voted Monday to advance sweeping energy permitting legislation that opponents say could strip tribal nations of their voice in projects affecting sacred lands and clear a path for a controversial transmission line across Wisconsin.
The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act, or BAAJA, would expand the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's authority to issue permits for transmission facilities when a state denies or fails to approve a siting application within one year. It would also revise the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires the federal government to consult tribal nations before finalizing projects that directly impact them.
For the Ho-Chunk Nation, the stakes are immediate. The proposed 190-mile, 765-kilovolt transmission line â known as the 765 Line â would run through nine Wisconsin counties and directly over cultural areas for the tribe. Opponents of the line, including the group No 765 Line, have warned that BAAJA would allow Washington to approve the project even if Wisconsin's Public Service Commission rejects it.
Ho-Chunk President Jon Greendeer said the bill's changes to consultation requirements would undo decades of work.
"What BAAJA intends to do is take generations, decades and generations of collaborative consultation and stewardship of these lands and immediately wipe it out with one vote," Greendeer said.
He added that the legislation would remove protections altogether. "They're taking our ability away to protect these things and just throwing the key out and giving everyone the ability to mine or to build transmission lines or to move railway lines without any protections," he said.
The day before senators advanced the bill, a coalition of tribal organizations urged Congress to halt it, citing "threats to tribal sovereignty and sacred places." The groups said the proposed changes to the National Historic Preservation Act fail to ensure meaningful government-to-government tribal consultation.
Supporters say the bill will lower energy costs. Business Roundtable, an association of more than 200 chief executives of leading companies, has called on the Senate to advance permitting reform to reduce costs for American families. The CEOs of bp, Chevron, Enbridge, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum and Shell USA also urged Congress to pass the bill. Proponents estimate it would save ratepayers $10 billion annually.
Nearly all Republicans, including U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, voted to advance the measure Monday.
The National Association of Counties said the legislation maintains "key county wins," including an amendment creating a new Data Center Community Assistance Program within the U.S. Department of Energy. NACo said the program would be explicitly prohibited from interfering with local siting or zoning decisions.
But the NAACP condemned the Senate's advancement of the bill, saying it is aimed at expediting permitting reviews to power large energy projects such as data centers.
The transmission line's route through Ho-Chunk cultural areas has drawn sustained opposition from tribal members and environmental advocates, who argue the project prioritizes industrial energy demand over treaty rights and landscape protection. With the Senate procedural vote now complete, the bill moves closer to a final vote, leaving tribal nations and local opponents bracing for what they say could be an irreversible loss of protections.