Overturn a rule limiting public land use in Wyoming?
This House Joint Resolution is a proposal to overturn a rule from the Bureau of Land Management under the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to cancel recent agency rules. The Bureau of Land Management rule restricts certain public land, including future coal leasing, in the Buffalo Field Office area of Wyoming.
Sponsor: Rep. Harriet Hageman (Republican, Wyoming, District At Large)
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How do you feel?
Opponents say
• "This vote is a power grab by a fossil-fuel friendly majority in Congress that will likely backfire spectacularly. By using the Congressional Review Act in this way, Congress is opening Pandora’s box on public lands, throwing the management of millions of acres into chaos. Ironically, oil and gas companies could be stripped of thousands of leasing permits thanks to this vote." Source: Policy Director Rachael Hamby, Center for Western Priorities
• "Overturning land-management plans in this unprecedented way could throw our public lands into chaos, threatening to expose thousands of permits, leases and rights of way to legal challenge...Congress should let BLM do its job: managing our nation’s public lands with the public’s input, while balancing recreation, conservation and energy production." Source: Justine Meuse, Government Relations Director for the Wilderness Society
Proponents say
• "Coal is the backbone of Wyoming’s economy, it supports thousands of good-paying jobs, generates the revenue that funds our communities, and provides reliable, cheap electricity to Americans across our country. Biden’s BLM left us no choice but to stop this dangerous overreach via the Congressional Review Act. I’ll continue working with Senator Barrasso and Representative Hageman every day to stop the left’s war on coal and make sure Wyoming is able to power America’s future." Source: Sen. Cynthia Lummis (Republican, Wyoming)
• "These Biden-era plans lack balanced resource management and, in fact, are mineral withdrawals in disguise, which runs contrary to Federal law. They lock up America’s resources, kill jobs, and undermine energy security. The Miles City Resource Management Plan amendment, combined with the Buffalo RMP amendment in Wyoming, bans future coal leasing across the Powder River Basin, which holds roughly 30 percent of our Nation’s coal reserves. The consequences are vast, including higher energy costs for American families, the loss of $46 million annually in Montana State revenue that supports public education, and the elimination of countless high-paying jobs that sustain rural communities." Source: Rep. Harriet Hageman (Republican, Wyoming)
