The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has publicly released their proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) and final environmental impact statement (FEIS) for their Rock Springs Field Office. The plan outlines how the BLM will manage 3.6 million acres of federal land in southwest Wyoming.
Wyoming Politicians are weighing in on the BLM plan, and they’re not happy.
Governor Mark Gordon says the new proposed Rock Springs RMP plan doesn’t match up with Wyoming’s values.
“Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the FEIS for the proposed Rock Springs RMP does not meet Wyoming’s expectations of durable, multiple use of public lands,” says the Governor in a media release. “I will examine the [final environmental impact statement] FEIS closely, but make no mistake, the State of Wyoming will be filing protests where our comments were disregarded. I will continue to identify any management decisions that are inconsistent with Wyoming law and policy in my upcoming consistency review.”
U.S. Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-WY, say the new draft of the Rocks Springs RMP is “misguided” and released the following statements in response to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)’s Rock Springs Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP).
“The Biden-Harris administration is pushing Wyoming off an economic cliff with nothing more than a tattered parachute,” says Barrasso. “The Rock Springs Resource Management Plan strangles responsible natural resource development. This plan isn’t designed to manage Wyoming’s natural resources. It is designed to suffocate them. While I’m grateful for the efforts of those on the ground in Wyoming who worked to improve the original proposal, the plan unveiled today directly jeopardizes Wyoming’s economy and our way of life.”
Senator Lummis also was in lock-step with Senator Barrasso, saying, “The Biden-Harris administration has made it abundantly clear that it is far more focused on appealing to radical environmentalists than supporting western communities.” Lummis added that this draft represents another “land grab” is a series of public land management plans that “punishes Wyoming and the entire west.”
What Lummis and other political leaders in Wyoming fear is that if the BLM is allowed to manage “lands in southwestern Wyoming, [it] will deliver a seismic blow to Wyoming’s economy, devastating our communities and further emboldening unelected bureaucrats in Washington to prioritize political pandering over the economic and environmental stability of the region.
In October, Senators Barrasso and Lummis led their colleagues in writing a letter urging BLM to immediately withdraw its misguided Rock Springs Draft Resource Management Plan.
Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officially released its proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) related to the Rock Springs Field Office. This misguided plan, which was initially proposed last year but then withdrawn in response to severe backlash, would still block multiple-use activities across nearly one million acres in southwest Wyoming.
Representative Harriet Hageman (R-WY) stated, “The BLM’s most recent RMP and preferred alternative does not address the concerns previously identified, and will substantially reduce economically productive and environmentally safe land uses such as grazing, energy production, mining, recreation, and other important activities on nearly a million acres in our state. It is essentially a land lockout, converting thousands of acres of federal land in Wyoming from being managed for multiple-use into being set aside for non-use and non-access. This is exactly what the radical environmentalists have been demanding and this administration has been implementing all across the West. ”
Hageman also addressed the issue of what the fallout would be if the new RMP would be enacted. “It is impossible to overestimate the level of harm this will cause to our local communities, our State and our country as a whole, due to the impact on our mining, livestock, recreation and energy industries – all because bureaucrats in Washington, DC are choosing to follow the “climate change” marching orders of the Biden-Harris administration instead of science and fact. While the BLM has addressed some of the concerns voiced last year, it continues to pursue a reckless policy that simply cannot be let to stand.”
The Governor has a 30-day window to file a response.
