The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will amend its management plan for 3.6 million acres of public land in southwest Wyoming, the federal agency said Wednesday.
The highly anticipated and unusual redo comes just nine months after the Rock Springs resource management plan was completed in December. That plan set off a firestorm of criticism from conservative critics for being overly restrictive. Now, conservation groups lament that what they considered a widely supported compromise cemented under the Biden administration is at risk of a massive overhaul by the Trump administration.
In fact, the BLM said it will “review and revise” the plan to ensure it complies with several executive orders issued under the Trump administration, including Unleashing American Energy and Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry.
“The BLM has determined that the special management designations and their associated mineral restrictions within the field office are inconsistent with recent executive orders and need to be reviewed,” the agency said.
What’s at stake
The region encompasses the highly industrialized east-west Interstate 80 and railroad “checkerboard” corridor, as well as large undeveloped portions of the Red Desert. The desert is home to myriad cultural and environmental features such as Boars Tusk, Honeycomb Buttes, Adobe Town, the Big Sandy Foothills and Greater Little Mountain. It also includes climate-stressed sagebrush-steppe habitat, which is vital to the greater sage grouse (a species of concern), pronghorn and mule deer.
Conservation groups hailed the 2024 plan as a workable compromise that recognized the value of maintaining several “areas of critical environmental concern” to protect wildlife habitat, as well as blocking 1.1 million acres from new industrial-scale development via rights-of-way “exclusion areas.” Even with new protections, about 75% of the 3.6-million-acre BLM Rock Springs Field Office management area is already leased or technically available for energy development, according to a Wilderness Society report.
The exclusion areas mainly applied to the northern portion of the region, a mecca for wildlife and an area mostly untouched by large-scale oil and natural gas activity. But the U.S. Geological Survey published a new assessment earlier this year proclaiming a massive volume of oil and gas previously “undiscovered” and now “technically recoverable” in the area. That leaves wildlife advocacy groups and environmental watchdogs fearful that the USGS report, as well as Trump administration orders to “unleash American energy,” will be used to justify rolling back protections.
In fact, the BLM’s notice this week alludes to the potential for more energy development: “Potential for fluid mineral development was previously determined to be low for much of the special management designated areas,” it said. “However, new technologies and industry interest have changed over recent years and the reasonably foreseeable development needs to be reevaluated.”
Reactions
The BLM’s actions signal a disregard for conservation measures supported by 92% of public comments submitted during the planning process, as well as a majority of a local stakeholders group convened by Gov. Mark Gordon, the Sierra Club noted.
“The plan was a compromise between many different Wyoming communities who have weighed in over the years,” Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter Director Rob Joyce said in a prepared statement. “Now, before the agency even has time to implement [the 2024 plan], we’re being asked to weigh in again. It’s time to listen to the science and to the public and let the plan live.”
Conservation groups also worry about the Trump administration’s promises to expedite actions on federal lands.
“The work behind [the 2024 plan] demonstrated what’s possible when the government listens to the people who know these lands best and operates in a balanced and transparent way,” The Wilderness Society’s Wyoming State Director Julia Stuble said. “There is no reason to redo a plan finalized less than a year ago, after decades of local input,” Stuble said. “Rewriting the plan now, especially through this fast-tracked amendment process, will undercut years of community work and end up excluding the voices of those who live, work and recreate in southwest Wyoming.”
Oil and gas industry officials, meantime, praised the BLM for reopening the management plan for revision.
“We are pleased the BLM is beginning the process to amend the Rock Springs [management plan] after the Biden [administration] locked away so many acres from productive uses,” Petroleum Association of Wyoming Vice President and Director of Communications Ryan McConnaughey told WyoFile. “We look forward to a process that takes into account meaningful public comment from all stakeholders involved and analyzes the best available science.”
That includes the USGS oil and gas assessment for the area, McConnaughey added.
The BLM indicated the official notice-of-intent will be published in the Federal Register this week, kicking off a 30-day public comment period — an action that is unaffected by the federal government shutdown, according to those close to the issue, as well as the BLM’s shutdown contingency plan.
Comments can be submitted via the BLM’s planning website or via email to blm_wy_rockspringsrmp@blm.gov.
I seem to remember some folks saying if the 2024 plan was approved, people wouldn’t even be allowed to leave town for outdoor recreation. If things go as planned with the current administration priorities for the extractive industries, we may not even have any outdoors left to recreate in. Conservation has become a bad word to some people.
This country used to have a policy burn theirs and save ours. Now our policy is drill baby drill. It’s my understanding that all the easy oil has been found. That’s why they do fracking nowadays. Sure there might be oil in the red desert, I have had no trouble filling my truck with gas. All the gas stations have fuel for sale. I think our children and grandchildren might need this resource why pump it all out today? What about 50 years 75 years from now?
Maybe we should cut back on using so much energy.
Of course it will be redone because it no longer aligns with the current administrations priority.
I find it interesting these same “conservation organizations” have no problem with wind energy or solar energy in similar environmentally sensitive areas – ignoring the multitude of environmental issues brought on by those energy sources. How many natural prairies and other areas have been ruined by these subsidized energy sources – what was once pristine areas with no roads are filled with roads and traffic to maintain the turbines. So changing the defective BLM plan is problematic, but wind towers are perfectly ok?
Not that I am necessarily against these sources of energy, but let’s be honest about the pluses and minuses and the impact on public lands.
It is also disingenuous to imply the BLM plan was widely supported. It’s pretty easy to get a group together to flood the public intake with the same message over and over and imply that is general consensus. The Biden administration attempted to slam through a plan with errors and ignored many of the contrary public comments – at the end of the day it was nothing more than a political stunt. Who knows, maybe it was signed with the auto pen.
One man’s public use area, is another person’s garbage dump. The mineral producers in Wyoming (especially), have not carried their weight. This is especially visible in SW WY, where the trona cartel enjoys forever exclusions from the production taxes that other mineral producers routinely pay. The rationale for the tax holiday is pure nonsense. However, the industry skates away every time mineral severance taxes are discussed by the few responsible legislators.
This is outrageous! The currently recommended plan went through a lengthy and rigorous vetting and public comment period. This plan is a thoughtful and widely recognized compromise between all competing stakeholders. To have the Trump regime step in at the last minute and nix this as a favor to a few greedy extractive corporations is a travesty and should not have been allowed.
Kaputalism continuing continuing its death march to destroy the planet.
Another junk propaganda article.