A Republican effort to nullify Biden-era land-use plans could have broad implications, potentially opening up avenues for environmentalists, oil companies, cattle ranchers and others to object to how the federal government manages public lands.
On Wednesday, the Senate used the Congressional Review Act to repeal a Biden administration effort that ended new coal leasing on public lands in Montana’s Powder River Basin. It was the first of three resolutions that aim to use the CRA to roll back resource management plans.
That’s an unprecedented use of a 1996 law that allows Congress to reject “rules” from agencies within 60 session days of their publication in the Federal Register. Critics say the shift creates legal uncertainty for the energy leases, conservation plans, grazing permits and other public land uses that agencies have regulated for decades.
“You’re opening Pandora’s box all across the West,” said Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, a nonpartisan conservation organization.
