"Feds scuttle the Public Lands Rule, meant to even the playing field between conservation and industry"
"The Trump administration is set to reverse a sweeping conservation rule for public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the latest in a series of actions to reverse Biden-era environmental protections. Announced without much public fanfare in early April, the sudden reversal of the rule, which sought to put conservation on an equal playing field with industrial activities, is a blow to conservation efforts, said environmental groups.
“This expected rescission is not just a bureaucratic rollback but a fundamental rejection of the idea that our public lands should serve all people, not just the extractive industry," Beau Kiklis, the associate director of energy and landscape conservation at the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a press statement.
The BLM manages over 240 million acres of land, more than any other federal agency. If BLM land was a state, it would be second in area only to Alaska. Only about 10 percent of this land is specifically managed for conservation, while much of the rest is available for a range of uses like recreation, livestock grazing, oil and gas drilling, and other industries. In June 2024, President Biden published the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, also known as the Public Lands Rule. For some, the move was seen as a monumental shift for an agency that one previous interior secretary derisively called the Bureau of Livestock and Mining. For others, it was a reaffirmation of the multiuse ethos that was supposed to be the guiding principle of the agency all along.
When the rule was made public, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous was hopeful that, “from now on, public lands will be managed for public benefit, not just for the profits of the oil and gas industry.” Meanwhile, Utah Governor Spencer Cox denounced it as “a classic example of a solution looking for a problem,” and Wyoming Senator John Barasso called it a “radical rule that threatens our Wyoming way of life.” Industry groups like the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and American Forest Research Council quickly filed lawsuits challenging the rule."
Ian Rose reports for Sierra magazine May 11, 2025.
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