Last week, members of the U.S. Senate very publicly unveiled its “Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026” to what seems to be a great deal of confusion. The media variously described this new bill as a “data center” bill, an “energy” bill, and a “permitting reform” bill. Credit certainly belongs to whoever came up with the name of the bill, managing to cram as many pollster-approved nouns as they could into an election season bill title.
It will take some serious sleuthing to move beyond the glossy title and unpack what this 417-page behemoth is really all about. Sticking to our wheelhouse, Chesapeake Legal Alliance will be providing analysis of what this means for the Chesapeake Bay and water quality more generally. In the coming weeks we will speak to various provisions in the bill that will unquestionably harm our efforts to protect the Bay watershed and exact just as painful consequences for so many of its communities if this bill passes. But first, a quick note about the remarkable timing of this bill.
Not even a year ago, one of the most salient trends in national policy circles was translating the so-called “Abundance Agenda” into action. What was a wonky think-piece several years ago quickly seemed to gain traction amongst the super-serious policy elite, who railed about how America just can’t build anything anymore (all other interests be damned). With staggering swiftness, many politicians fell in line and stumbled all over themselves trying to be seen as the leader of a “build baby build” party.
If you’re one of the wealthiest individuals or the largest corporations in the world, this Abundance Agenda was like manna from the sky. Out of the blue, a large chunk of the political center was willing to suddenly join up with the old deregulatory crowd and cast aside all obstacles standing in the way of a “build first, ask questions later” legal regime to supercharge everything from energy extraction to data centers. But a funny thing happens when you start taking away people’s legal rights and the regulatory frameworks they’ve relied upon (whether they knew it or not).
Today, data centers are under construction seemingly faster than you or I could get a permit to build a shed, in large part because many of the approvals were secured in the dark. Overnight, proposals to fasttrack the massive transmission lines, water intake structures, and pipelines needed to feed these behemoths started popping up everywhere (CLA is fighting two such proposals).
Imagine for a moment buying a very cool new whizbang contraption that could transform your life. You make the purchase and a few days later the installer shows up. You are a little surprised that he has shown up with a small team, but you let them in and go about your other chores and errands. A few hours later you stop by to see your fancy new device cemented to your living room floor, with electric wires snaking across the room, a generator in the corner, and plumbing coming and going from one end of the room to the other. You were sold by the supposedly transformative effect of that product, but no one told you what it would look like, what it would do to your house, or how the company was able to break all the plumbing and electrical codes in the process of installing the device. This is the reality of data centers in 2026. Do we want AI to increase our professional productivity? Sure. Do we want data centers plopped down wherever the developer decides, fed by massive new transmission towers, pipelines, and water intake structures destroying our lands and waters? Nobody told us about that, and how is that even legal?
This is the situation that has been foisted upon us seemingly overnight with rules being waived, broken, and now with this Senate bill, rewritten and recodified, to facilitate even more of this chaotic and haphazard development. It should be no surprise that these outrageous intrusions have fed a stunning and perhaps unprecedented mass movement in 2026 that has united and galvanized people of all political leanings. Whether you’re talking about treading upon my rights, or trampling upon my forests and wetlands, Americans are going to have something to say if you decide that your project is more important than their rights and interests - interests that include water availability and affordable energy.
And so, just like that, in a period of less than one year, we’ve seen a dramatic about-face with the health of our air, water, and landscapes hanging in the balance. In a matter of months, many of these Abundance Agenda acolytes have, one by one, pivoted in dizzying fashion to assure their constituents that, no, they never intended to suggest that data center developers, energy companies, and their economic interests are more important than your rights and resources. Thankfully, it seemed that the rights of Americans and the health of our communities and ecosystems looked to be in much better shape to end 2026 than when the year started.
And yet, here we are, in this most fascinating of historical moments. The Abundance Agenda, which mere months ago, appeared to be a runaway freight train, in part because its agenda was in lockstep with the most powerful industries on the planet, was now seemingly being turned back in an instant by the collective outrage of a broad swath of Americans. But then just last week Congress decided to introduce the mother of all goody-bags to tech billionaires and extractive industries, rewriting our foundational environmental laws that have been in place for over a half century all in the service of speeding more of this destructive development that no one wants. Talk about tone deaf. It is no wonder Congress’ already low ratings have hit fresh record lows.
As America celebrates its 250th birthday, what is more un-American than ignoring a vast majority of Americans, and taking from “We the People” and giving to the wealthiest and most powerful people and corporations on the planet? John Adams famously declared that we are to be “a government of laws, not of men” - a powerful reminder that the rules of a well functioning government are necessary to keep tyranny in check. This is the backdrop for the introduction of a lame duck Senate bill that seeks to swiftly eviscerate the laws that were carefully crafted over the course of a decade, with nearly unanimous consent from a bipartisan Congress, in favor of a gift toward the most powerful men and industries in the world.
In future posts, we will shine a light on some of the specific dangers lurking in this massive 417-page bill that will have dramatic consequences for the Chesapeake Bay and for the statutorily-created environmental rights that Americans have; rights that others want to misrepresent as mere “red tape” in need of “reform.” We can only hope that once people catch wind of what this misleadingly named bill actually means for every day people and the places they care about - and who wins and who loses if it passes - that Congress will also pivot just as quickly as the state and local officials who had previously chosen to ignore the will of the people in recent years.
