Key Vote: BLM Planning 2.0 CRA

The Senate is set to consider H.J. Res. 44, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution to overturn the Bureau of Land Management’s “Planning 2.0” rule. This regulation would redefine the “multiple use” concept for federal lands laid out in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA). It would also diminish state and local officials’ roles in managing lands within their communities by consolidating more power in the federal government. We urge Senators to vote YES to overturn this unnecessary Obama-era regulation.

The FLPMA mandates that federal lands be managed for “multiple use and sustained yield.” The law also provides that “the public lands be managed in a manner which recognizes the Nation’s need for domestic sources of minerals, food, timber, and fiber from the public lands.”

The BLM Planning 2.0″ rule redefines this “multiple use” concept, which could impede responsible development of America’s oil, gas, and coal resources on federal lands. This would deny the American people the economic benefits of developing these resources, such as jobs, higher wages, and more state and local revenue. The Institute for Energy Research has evaluated the economic benefits of opening federal lands for energy production in this study.

This regulation also diminishes the role of regional, state, and local officials by weakening local authority over resource- and land-use decisions and centralizing more power in the hands of Washington bureaucrats.

Senators should oppose this bureaucratic overreach and vote YES on the CRA resolution repealing the BLM “Planning 2.0” rule.