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To prohibit the implementation of the Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Buffalo, Wyoming Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management.
2/5/2025, 1:03 AM
Summary of Bill HR 230
The amendment in question likely involves changes to how the BLM manages resources in the Buffalo Field Office area, which covers a significant amount of land in Wyoming. The bill seeks to halt the implementation of this amendment, suggesting that there may be concerns about the potential impact of the changes on the environment, local communities, or other stakeholders.
The bill does not provide specific details about the reasons for prohibiting the amendment, but it is clear that there are concerns significant enough to warrant legislative action. It is important to note that the bill does not propose an alternative plan or course of action; rather, it simply seeks to prevent the current amendment from being put into effect. As with any legislation related to public land management, Bill 119 HR 230 is likely to spark debate and discussion among lawmakers, environmental advocates, industry representatives, and other interested parties. The outcome of this bill could have far-reaching implications for the management of public lands in Wyoming and beyond.
Congressional Summary of HR 230
This bill prohibits the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from implementing, administering, or enforcing its 2024 Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment for its Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming. The field office manages 780,291 acres of public lands and 4,731,140 acres of mineral estates within Campbell, Johnson, and Sheridan Counties in north-central Wyoming.
In 2015, the BLM published a management plan for the field office that allowed leases of certain public lands or mineral estates within the office's planning area for the development of coal.
In 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in Western Organization of Resource Councils v. Bureau of Land Management ordered the BLM to complete a new environmental impact statement (EIS) for the management plan under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, which requires an agency to include all reasonable alternatives to its action and the environmental impacts resulting from the action. Specifically, the court ordered the BLM to issue an EIS that considers an alternative of not leasing coal under the management plan as well as an alternative that limits the amount of coal potentially available for leasing.
In response to the court order, the BLM published an amendment to the plan on November 27, 2024. The amended plan made no acres within the office's planning area available for future coal leasing in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, it allowed existing coal leases to be developed.
