The Bureau of Land Management’s recommendation that Interior Secretary Deb Haaland keep 28 million acres of federal lands in Alaska closed to mining and oil and gas development came down to following procedure, process and federal law.
BLM outlined in a final environmental impact statement released Friday that the five public land orders that would have lifted land-use restrictions in place for more than five decades were done so hastily in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency that Haaland has little choice but to reject them.
Haaland still has the option to approve or reject, in full or in part, the five public land orders signed by then-Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in January 2021. But she indicated in a statement Friday she’ll revoke the orders and keep the protections in place to “ensure these important areas remain intact for generations to come.”
BLM is expected to publish the final EIS in the Federal Register in the coming days. Haaland would then sign a record of decision revoking the controversial Bernhardt land orders, likely in August.