The Bill, Its Potential Impacts and What’s Next
And how one provision was defeated, thanks to a massive outcry from the outdoor community.
This week, the Senate passed a massive spending and tax bill with a vote of 51-50. This bill includes things like reductions in health insurance access and affordability, cuts to SNAP and increased support for ICE, and while the anger I feel at writing out these reductions makes heat rise from my face, I’m going to try my best to keep this piece focused on environmental impacts, which are also present. Yes, it’s true (are we surprised?) — this piece of legislation also stands to fast track environmental destruction through support of extractive industries, rollbacks to environmental protections, and gutting of renewable energy incentives.
Wow. What a paragraph.
What’s actually in the bill, environmentally?
Although it’s branded as a defense bill, it is loaded with provisions that do little to protect people and everything to protect polluters.
Among other things, it:
Weakens NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act), the bedrock environmental law that requires review and public input for major development projects. Without it, oil rigs, mines, and highways can be greenlit with little oversight.
Opens more land to drilling, logging, and mining, including areas previously safeguarded for conservation or recreation (the impact on places like Alaska are particularly detrimental).
Attempts to repeal clean energy tax credits, threatening momentum for wind, solar, EVs, and the domestic clean manufacturing economy. It also rescinds unspent tribal energy loans.
This is not just one piece of legislation affecting us in 2025. These new measures bring into question whether we’ll still have clean water, quiet trails, thriving wildlife, and a livable planet to hand off to future generations — and whether the places we love to recreate will remain accessible, not destroyed.
One piece of good news: no public lands sell-off
Senator Mike Lee introduced a last-minute provision to the bill that would have triggered the sell-off of millions of acres of public land. It was short-lived, because something powerful happened: the outdoor community showed up.
Backcountry hunters, local guides, Indigenous leaders, climate activists, and everyday recreationalists sent tens of thousands of messages to Congress in just a few days. Organizations like Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, SUWA, and Outdoor Alliance mobilized rapidly. Lawmakers started to feel the heat.
And it worked. Facing overwhelming backlash, Senator Lee was forced to withdraw the sell-off language.
Y’ALL, THIS WORKS.
That win didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened because people understood what was at stake — not just in ecological terms, but in human ones. Access, culture, connection, livelihood… all of it depends on land that stays in public hands.
Why this still matters for the outdoor community
And now for the harsh truth: the rest of the bill remains intact. I know this is quite doomsday, and I always try to be solutions-oriented here, BUT I do think it’s important to understand what’s at stake. The bill still undercuts the very laws that protect the forests we bike through, the rivers we paddle, and the mountains we climb. It still fast tracks extractive projects in places we’ve worked hard to preserve. It rolls back climate progress we’ve seen from the renewable energy transition.
Sometimes, it’s easy to talk about outdoor recreation and environmental policy as separate lanes. But they’re not (otherwise WTCTA wouldn’t exist!). Every trailhead needs a functioning ecosystem to support it. Every national monument depends on legal protections to stay whole. And every climber, hunter, skier, surfer, or camper is, whether they know it or not, part of a political constituency with power (just ask POW).
Ok, so what now?
Call your representatives. The bill still has to go through the House. I repeat - THE BILL STILL HAS TO GO THROUGH THE HOUSE. We can still act. Ask lawmakers to strip the environmental rollbacks and oppose the provisions that harm clean energy and environmental protections (and honestly, every other provision in there). I like 5 Calls (love me a good script!) but use whatever method you prefer.
Support the groups doing the work. Groups like Outdoor Alliance, Indigenous Environmental Network, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and Protect Our Winters are tracking the details and organizing resistance.
Stay loud. The defeat of the land sell-off was a direct result of public pressure, and that same energy is needed to challenge the rest of this bill.
It does indeed work, so let’s keep at it
The defeat of the sell-off provision showed us something important — that when the outdoor community mobilizes, it works. But the rest of the bill is still a disaster. If you are a passionate outdoor recreator (and again, this means *enjoying spending any time outside in nature whatsoever*), this is our fight, together.
Let’s not wait until our favorite trail, crag or fishing hole is gone to know how much it hurts that it couldn’t be saved. Let’s act, let’s go. The time is now.