Trump moves to rescind public lands conservation rule
Others lauded the move.
'We are thrilled the Trump Administration has decided to reexamine the Biden-era Public Lands Rule. This rule could keep Utahns off public lands and would employ a museum-type management approach — you can look, but you can't touch," Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said in a statement. 'All Utahns should have access to Utah public lands under a policy that allows for multiple uses. The Trump administration has a better understanding of Utah's unique public lands challenges and we look forward to working with them to increase access to Utah's public lands.'
The policy, implemented during the Biden administration, sought to put conservation and ecosystem restoration as part of multiple use on Bureau of Land management land like drilling and grazing. New leases would have been offered improving and recovering federal lands and offsetting development impacts.
The action was swiftly condemned by Utah and other Western states.
'Utah has a long track record of successful conservation and restoration of its public lands in tandem with local BLM offices,' Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a statement after a draft of the rule was released in 2024.
'The added layers of red tape and federal bureaucracy embedded in the BLM's Public Lands Rule create new roadblocks to conservation work. The health of Utah's lands and wildlife will suffer as a result. This rule is contrary to the bedrock principle of 'multiple-use' in the BLM's governing law, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. I look forward to working with Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes and his office to challenge this rule in federal court as soon as possible.'
In the letter of concern before the rule's adoption, Cox and the other governors wrote: 'The proposed rule would then require the BLM to identify intact landscapes on public lands, and manage these lands to protect them 'from activities that would permanently or significantly disrupt, impair, or degrade the structure or functionality of intact landscapes.' While the specific activities that would harm these intact landscapes are not identified in the proposed rule, we are concerned that different forms of multiple use such as conifer removal projects, livestock grazing, renewable energy development, mining, oil and gas exploration, road improvements, dispersed camping, and many other activities could be deemed to 'disrupt, impair, or degrade' in different situations.'
It went on to stress this: 'In fact, it is conceivable that almost all of the West's BLM land could qualify as 'intact landscapes' under the BLM's vague and overly broad definition.'
Prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, then Utah Rep. John Curtis proposed legislation to nullify the rule and industry groups were readying for a legal battle.
This year, Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, and Rep. Russ Fulcher, R-Idaho, reintroduced the Western Economic Security Today, or WEST, Act that would require the national director of the BLM to withdraw the rule.
The White House Office of Management and Budget posted a rescission notice for the rule this week, following an executive order Trump issued directing federal agencies to determine and invoke regulations that undermine national interests.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance says the rescission of the rule flies in the face of public opinion, pointing out that 92% of the comments the Bureau of Land Management received during a public comment period on the rule were positive.
'(Interior) Secretary Doug Burgum routinely trashes the very concept of conservation of public lands — likening them to a corporate balance sheet to be monetized, applauding as President Trump fired thousands of employees at BLM and the National Park Service, and now this: undoing the wildly popular Public Lands Rule. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance opposes these efforts and will work to keep the Public Lands Rule in place,' said Steve Bloch, legal director for the organization.
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