WASHINGTON— As conservative lawmakers today called for legislation to fast-track fossil fuel projects, environmental and community organizations are urging Congress to reject any so-called permitting reform legislation.

Today’s letter from dozens of organizations warned Democrats that negotiating with Republicans will dismantle environmental protection laws and weaken Americans’ access to the courts in exchange for more unchecked drilling, mining and logging.

“This just puts a wig and some dark glasses on yet another nasty scheme to weaken protections for our air and water. Lawmakers who don’t want their communities polluted should steer clear,” said Camden Weber, climate and energy policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Republicans’ constant capitulation to the Trump administration’s lawlessness shows that negotiating in the current Congress won’t give us the clean energy transition this country desperately needs. It’ll only lead to more pipelines, drilling and fossil fuel infrastructure without any public input. This isn’t permitting reform. It’s a free-for-all for corporate America.”

At today’s press conference, members of the House’s Conservative Climate Caucus rallied for legislation to do away with environmental regulations to speed up energy and infrastructure projects.

Today’s letter warned that any bipartisan permitting reform bill would face a president who would ignore or obstruct efforts to accelerate a clean energy transition. President Trump and the Republican party have a long anti-environment record, the letter states, including illegally impounding millions in clean energy funding and passing a budget that opens hundreds of millions of acres of public land for extraction.