Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee are demanding the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) double the comment period on new rules that will fundamentally transform how public lands are managed.
The BLM published the “Conservation and Landscape Health” rule in the Federal Register on April 3, kicking off a 75-day public comment period wherein agency bureaucrats hear from interested parties on the new regulations. The proposed Public Lands Rule establishes a framework for “conservation leasing,” allowing public lands to be cut off from development or grazing.
“The administration’s proposal will have considerable implications, fundamentally changing the way the BLM carries out its multiple use and sustained yield mandate under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLMPA),” Republicans wrote in a letter to the Interior Department on Wednesday. “Given the potentially significant impacts of the proposed rule, stakeholders and the public should be afforded additional time to consider and provide feedback on the proposed changes.”
If implemented, the BLM regulations would undermine the long-standing “multiple use mandate” assigned by Congress in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. The law stipulates public lands be made available for a variety of purposes, including recreation and grazing. Conservation leases threaten to choke off access to ranchers who rely on BLM land to raise healthy livestock.
Committee Republicans led by Chairman Bruce Westerman of Arkansas recommended Interior Secretary Deb Haaland extend the period for public comment on the new rules from 75 days to 150.
“We continue to hear from
