Interior Department cancels conservation rule on public lands
AP News • • nation
Key Points:
- The Interior Department under President Trump is canceling a 2024 rule from the Biden administration that put conservation on equal footing with development on public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
- The Biden-era rule allowed public lands to be leased for restoration purposes similar to how they are leased for drilling, but the Trump administration argues it restricted access to land for energy, timber, and grazing industries.
- Environmental groups warn that repealing the rule reduces protections for clean water, endangered wildlife habitats, and accountability for corporate damage on public lands.
- Industry groups and Republican lawmakers supported the repeal, claiming the Biden rule improperly prioritized non-use restoration leases over the "multiple use" mandate for federal lands, which includes energy production.
- The repeal aligns with broader Trump administration efforts to boost fossil fuel development on federal lands, particularly in Western states, and comes after congressional rollbacks of Biden-era land protections in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota.