Nobody who has waited two years for a permit to fix a culvert thinks the system works well. American Rivers, which runs restoration projects that need permits of their own, agrees. But in a new piece by Leda Huta, the national river group argues that the Senate’s big permitting bill trades away too many river protections to get there, and that Congress does not have to choose between building things and keeping water clean.
American Rivers says it supports faster, clearer permitting and likes a few parts of the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, including online project tracking, more agency capacity and coastal restoration. But it says those benefits do not outweigh the bill’s effects on rivers. Its concerns include limits on state and Tribal water quality protections, treating the filling of wetlands up to two acres as minor harm for some permits, longer permit terms, narrower environmental reviews and limits on legal challenges, state takeover of some federal wildlife reviews, and weaker protections around hydropower dams. The group says it will work with Congress on bipartisan fixes rather than simply oppose the bill.
What American Rivers likes
This is not a flat no. American Rivers points to provisions for online tracking of projects through the permitting process, money and staff for the agencies that review permits, and support for coastal restoration. Anyone who has watched a project stall because one office had a single reviewer for three counties knows those are real fixes. The group’s point is that better coordination and adequate staffing would speed up a lot of projects without weakening the rules themselves.
Where the bill goes too far
State and Tribal protections. The bill would make it harder for states and Tribes to set and defend water quality conditions on federally permitted projects. For dams, interstate power lines and gas pipelines, American Rivers warns that problems like warmer water and lower river flows could go unaddressed even when an agency sees the need.
Small wetlands. Filling up to two acres of wetland would be treated as causing only minor harm for certain permitting decisions. American Rivers notes that small wetlands filter pollution and hold floodwater, and that the damage adds up when many small fills happen in the same watershed.
The size of wetland fill the bill would treat as causing only minor harm for certain permitting decisions, regardless of how many such fills happen in one watershed.
Fixing problems after approval. The bill would limit when federal agencies can restrict fill in rivers and streams, extend some permit terms, and make it harder for courts and agencies to stop or correct harmful work once a project is underway.
Reviews, public input and wildlife. Narrower environmental reviews and new limits on lawsuits would leave communities fewer ways to protect drinking water, fisheries and flood safety. States could take over some federal wildlife reviews, which American Rivers worries could leave species protection uneven across state lines, and a new definition of science could spark fights over what evidence agencies may consider.
“Size alone cannot measure damage, especially when repeated stream crossings affect an entire watershed.”
Leda Huta, writing for American Rivers
Why it matters for the rest of us
That line about repeated stream crossings could have been written about the Upper Ohio basin. A single gas pipeline can cross dozens of small streams and wetlands on its way across Washington, Greene or Wetzel County, and each crossing on its own can look minor on paper. Small headwater wetlands are also where a lot of this basin’s flood protection quietly happens.
The Senate is expected to take up the bill soon after the election. American Rivers’ approach is a useful model for how watershed groups can engage: say plainly what works, name the specific sections that need fixing, and ask senators for changes rather than a simple yes or no. Better permitting and healthy rivers are not opposites, and nobody downstream should be asked to pretend otherwise.
Read American Rivers’ Full Statement
This article is based on “No false choices: We can improve infrastructure permitting AND protect rivers,” by Leda Huta for American Rivers, published October 30, 2026. Current as of October 31, 2026.
