Just months after Americans from all walks of life resoundingly rejected the notion of selling off our public lands, some in Congress are at it again. This time, however, the threat is more insidious. For our Republican friends, especially those in the energy industry, off-road enthusiasts, ranchers, hunters, and anglers – please stay with us, because this matters to you, too. Your access to the lands, permits, and leases you rely on could become far less certain.
Last week, the Republican-majority House of Representatives passed resolutions to repeal three Bureau of Land Management Resource Management Plans. These plans guide the conservation and development of 15 million acres of public lands in Montana’s Powder River Basin, Alaska’s Central Yukon, and North Dakota. Why should we in Colorado care about actions taken in states so far away? Because the repeal of these RMPs could create a dangerous precedent, threatening RMPs in every Western state, including our own. This action could jeopardize not only these three plans, but also call into question all kinds of commercial and recreational uses across the country.
This is part of a disingenuous push by the administration, which suggests these plans were created without adequate community involvement or a commitment to multiple-use mandates. This claim is demonstrably false. Rep. Jeff Hurd’s introduction of the so-called “Productive Public Lands Act” – which seeks to repeal nine Colorado-based RMPs – is a prime example. His legislation is not only bad for our public lands but also for our energy, recreation, and tourism-based economy. It would weaken our communities and harm the environment, especially fish and wildlife habitats, making us less resilient, rather than stronger or greater.
The Herald’s editorial board firmly opposes Congress’s meddling with RMPs, especially through the little-known Congressional Review Act. This extreme measure would not only eliminate the plans but would also permanently bar the BLM from issuing new ones. The three plans under attack would be replaced by their outdated 30- and 40-year-old predecessors. If this precedent is set, it could also challenge other RMPs, like the one for the Tres Rios Field Office.
The TRFO manages BLM lands across Archuleta, La Plata, Montezuma, Dolores, San Miguel, Montrose, Hinsdale, San Juan, Ouray, and Gunnison counties. Its 2015 RMP was 16 years in the making, and it was a model of local collaboration. During the planning process, the TRFO held 21 meetings, interviews, and workshops, received over 3,000 public comments, and involved more than 30 local governments, tribes, and agencies. In the final RMP, the BLM heralded what it called a “broad, thorough, and innovative, community-based public input process,” stating it “far exceeded the typical efforts of a federal lands scoping process.”
This is what is so difficult to understand about Rep. Hurd’s Productive Public Lands Act and his vote to repeal the Montana, Alaska, and North Dakota plans. He is siding with the administration’s claim that because these are “Biden-era plans,” they did not adequately engage stakeholders. The TRFO plan and the BLM’s own planning rules and regulations prove this is patently false.
What is most concerning, however, is the hypocrisy of this action. For all the talk of local stakeholder engagement and returning power to the people, the House's action this week seizes that very power from the land’s true owners: the American people.
The Senate will vote on these resolutions soon. We urge Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper to stand with the people of Colorado and vote no.
