WASHINGTON— House and Senate Republicans passed their final budget reconciliation bill today, approving historic attacks on our nation’s clean water, clean air, public lands and wildlife, and jacking up energy bills. The legislation will be sent to President Trump to sign into law.

The legislation opens up tens of millions of acres of forests, deserts, prairies and other public lands for drilling, mining and logging. It mandates lease sales for oil and gas drilling across the West, expands and fast-tracks coal development, and turns management of the nation’s forests into a log-at-any-cost mandate.

“This is a full-scale assault on the air we breathe, the water we drink and the wild places we cherish,” said Stephanie Kurose, deputy director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Republicans just opened the floodgates to turning some of our nation’s most beloved landscapes into sacrifice zones for polluter profits, while ensuring that the voices of impacted communities are silenced.”

The legislation significantly expands offshore oil and gas leasing in areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Gulf of Mexico, potentially locking in decades of fossil fuel extraction in these ecologically sensitive areas.

“From polar bears in the Arctic to sea turtles and Rice’s whales in the Gulf, countless species across the country will be pushed closer to extinction thanks to this cruel and reckless bill,” said Kurose. “Everyone who cares about our natural heritage should be furious. The widespread harm from this bill will be devastating.”

The bill also repeals tax breaks on clean energy, slashes climate protections from cleaner cars and trucks, and removes methane pollution fees. This will allow more toxic emissions near homes, schools and hospitals, and further hike up electricity rates.

After massive public outrage, a provision that would have sold off more than a million acres of public lands for speculative development was pulled from the bill. Selling public lands is unpopular. A 2025 survey found that 82% of Western voters oppose selling public lands to address housing challenges in their state, while 83% of voters say the loss of natural areas is a serious problem.

“Americans made it perfectly clear they oppose this wildly unpopular bill, but Republicans sold them out anyway,” said Kurose.