Friends of the Inyo

10/19/2026

This bill is being advertised as pro-renewable energy, but the details reveal a more sinister agenda:

The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 rewrites four bedrock environmental laws so data centers and extractive industries can more easily steamroll public input. And without an uproar, it’s likely to pass.

The National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), Clean Air and Water Act (CWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) are all facing massive changes that weaken our right to have a say in decisions that affect us locally.

Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released this permitting reform bill together.

The vote is slated as the first of the November 9th “lame-duck” session, before newly elected senators are sworn in and get the chance to vote on it.

Call your senators today and tell them to oppose this bill.
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121. 

All it takes is saying “Please vote no on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. Don’t weaken NEPA, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, or the National Historic Preservation Act.” It takes about two minutes.

10/16/2026

He’s at it again, friends. Mike Lee has convinced “pro-public lands” Senators Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to team up Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and himself to co-author a bill that reduces public input, threatens public lands, and more by gutting four bedrock environmental laws.

It’s called the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026 (S. 5653) and it’s likely the biggest roll back of conservation law in decades. It guts the following:

🌲 NEPA: National Environmental Protection Act
💧 CWA: Clean Water Act
🦉 ESA: Endangered Species Act
📖 NHPA: National Historic Preservation Act

All in the name of fast tracking AI data center development, oil and gas drilling, large-scale logging, and mining.

Call your senators today and tell them to oppose this bill.
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121. 

All it takes is saying “Please vote no on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. Don’t weaken NEPA, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, or the National Historic Preservation Act.” It takes about two minutes.

10/15/2026

10/13/2026

Our public lands are on the ballot this November.

Decisions about them get made in Washington, Sacramento, and county offices. We get do decide who makes those decisions.

The voter registration deadline is October 19. Election Day is November 3.

Register, check your status, or find your county elections office at the link in our bio. 🔗

10/07/2026

At least 1.6 MILLION comments have been submitted in opposition to repealing the Roadless Rule. Center for Western Priorities (Center for Western Priorities) found that 99.1% of comments opposed the repeal.

That total covers comments filed on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (which closed yesterday 10/6) as well as those sent to the Forest Service after it published its 2025 proposed rule. A different number will be reflected on the agency’s public comment site because the Forest Service changed how its online submission system works.

With comments from a mixed group across the political spectrum, over 1 million comments in opposition creates a clear picture: Americans want the USDA to keep the Roadless Rule and end their campaign to rescind it.

Will they listen? They may not. But if they don’t, a judge will see 1.6 million Americans expressed their desire to keep the Roadless Rule when the its repeal is inevitably challenged in court. That could spell R E V E R S A L for the USDA.

Thank you so much to everyone who submitted a comment, spread the word, and took action against this outrageous attack on 45 million acres of public land. History will remember you on the right side. 😤

10/05/2026

❌ COMMENT PERIOD NOW CLOSED ❌

Misinformation about what the rule is, what it does, and what might happen if it’s rescinded has run rampant. Why? Because this administration and their extractive industry friends know that the facts leave you with one option: protecting the Roadless Rule.

So here are the facts:
🌲 The Roadless Rule has been in place since 2001. In California it protects about 4.4 million acres of inventoried roadless areas across 20 national forests and 45 million acres nationwide.
🥾 We can all access Roadless Areas for various recreational activities, including off-roading.
🛞 There are roads in Roadless Areas. The rule only prevents more roads from being carved in. Check out our roadless map at the link in bio to see for yourself.
🔥 Research, including the Forest Service’s own, points toward wildfires increasing if the Roadless Rule is rescinded:
🔥 Ignition risk near roads is about 4 times higher than in inventoried roadless areas.
🔥 Fires burn less where there are no roads. Large roadless area fires (defined by the USFS as 1,000+ acres) burned 25% fewer acres than the average large fire in a roaded area.
🔥 Wildland Fighters have access to Roadless Areas for wildfire mitigation when needed. It’s written into the Roadless Rule.
💧 National Forests supply about 50% of California’s surface water, and Roadless Areas on the Inyo, Sequoia, and Sierra National Forests protect the headwaters.
💧The Roadless Rule protects clean drinking water for 25 million Americans.
💸 The Forest Service has nearly $7 billion in deferred maintenance on the >370,000 miles of roads they already manage. That’s twice the miles of the national highway system.
🏔️ “In 2024, visitors to the national forests and grasslands potentially affected by the roadless rule rescission spent $8.5 billion in local communities during their recreation visits.” - The Forest Service’s own assessment. (Roadless DEIS, p. 212)��And so much more…

Make your voice heard TODAY, and comment “Roadless” to receive two ways to comment on the Roadless Rule rescission, right in your DMs.

10/02/2026

A new Senate bill is being sold as the “Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026”, but does something much more sinister. It rewrites four bedrock environmental laws so data centers and extractive industries can more easily steamroll public input.

The National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), Clean Air and Water Act (CWA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), and National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) are all facing massive changes that weaken our right to have a say in decisions that affect us locally.

Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) released this permitting reform bill together.

The bill would require Democratic votes, but no Senate Democrat has spoken out against the bill as of our publishing of this post. So we need to get in their ear, and tell them our communities should take priority over corporations.

Call your senators today and tell them to oppose this bill.
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121. 

All it takes is saying “Please vote no on the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act. Don’t weaken NEPA, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, or the National Historic Preservation Act.” It takes about two minutes.

10/01/2026

A surprising number of people who are mad about the Roadless Rule want things it already protects, like access to public lands, clean water, and the ability to fight wildfires when needed.

We’re not here to shame anyone. Comments like these simply come from a lack of information. But we have the remedy: verifiable information backed by research.

🚨 The Comment Period Ends October 6th 🚨

Comment “Roadless” and we’ll DM you links to two ways you can comment on the rescission of the Roadless Rule:

1) Our comment builder that makes it easy to write a substantive comment that we will submit on your behalf.

2 ) The Federal Register to submit your comment directly to the USDA.