Senate lawmakers will hold a hearing this week to review the Bureau of Land Management’s planning work and how it impacts the permitting of livestock grazing, energy development and mining on millions of acres the agency oversees across the West.
The Energy and Natural Resources Committee will meet Wednesday to take a deep dive into the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and consider whether the bureau is complying with the law’s mandate that BLM manage the 245 million acres under its care for “multiple use and sustained yield.”
Republicans plan to scrutinize whether BLM prioritized conservation at the expense of “permitting for energy, mining, grazing, and infrastructure projects on public lands,” during former President Joe Biden’s tenure, according to a hearing notice that provides few other details.
A near certain topic of debate will be BLM’s highly contentious public lands rule, implemented last year, which the Trump administration has proposed revoking.
