The Trump administration continues to tighten the screws on renewable energy and other high-profile Bureau of Land Management programs that the president has criticized.
The latest involves the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is directing BLM to cut spending associated with a host of key agency programs, including renewable energy, land acquisitions and the bureau’s beleaguered wild horse and burro program.
OMB’s guidance directs the bureau to cut spending on these programs “outside of Federal salary and payroll expenses, minimum expenses to maintain safe operations, or payments otherwise required by law,” according to an internal email reviewed by POLITICO’s E&E News. The email was sent Monday to members of BLM’s executive leadership team.
Representatives at the Interior Department and BLM did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
The guidance states that no federal funds can be spent on “contracts, cooperative agreements, interagency agreements, travel, charge cards, or miscellaneous obligations” associated with the management of cultural resources or wilderness under BLM’s care, as well as wild horses and burros, renewable energy, and “Land Acquisition,” according to the email outlining the OMB guidance from Matt Shugert, deputy assistant director of BLM’s Business Management and Administration directorate, which oversees development of the bureau’s annual budget requests.
The guidance directs BLM’s budget division “to develop a spend plan for these activities” and that it “is currently working with the relevant program offices on developing, clearing and submitting these plans to OMB,” Shugert wrote.
It’s not clear how long the spending restrictions will remain in place. A separate email to staff, also sent Monday and reviewed by E&E News, states the OMB guidance applies only to remaining fiscal 2025 expenditures, which run through Sept. 30, when the current budget cycle ends.
That email also says that the spending prohibitions on land acquisitions extend to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which uses offshore oil and gas revenue to acquire land and water within or near federal lands, as well as other sensitive parcels.
Interior is working on an order that would divert a portion of the $900 million appropriated annually by Congress to the LWCF for maintenance projects on federal lands.
Questions over programs
Overall, the practical impacts of the new OMB guidance on the targeted programs are not clear.
A BLM official, granted anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the issue publicly, said the directive could effectively end most scheduled wild horse and burro roundups of excess animals from federal rangelands since many of those are handled by contractors. Another BLM staffer, also granted anonymity, said the bureau has moved to cancel previously scheduled travel associated with the various targeted programs.
But the new guidance is consistent with public statements from Trump and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, especially in regard to solar and wind development.
The Interior Department in the last few weeks has issued a series of orders and memorandums that appear to be aimed at throttling solar and wind power development — both Biden administration priorities — on federal lands, and offshore wind on federal waterways.
That includes a secretarial order from Burgum last week that adds project density to the list of factors weighed in considering energy projects. The order could hamper the permitting of solar and wind projects because they typically require the use of much more land than other energy sources.
The OMB guidance also aligns with the president’s fiscal 2026 budget request to Congress, which proposes to eliminate $39 million in funding for “BLM’s renewable energy program” because it “facilitates unreliable, intermittent energy to the detriment of American consumers, businesses, and communities,” according to the request.
Other Trump targets
BLM cultural resources and sensitive wildlife habitat management have also been targets of Trump.
The president’s budget proposal would also slash funding for managing national monuments and national conservation areas under BLM’s care, proposing a 75 percent cut to the National Conservation Lands system to $15 million from $60 million.
What’s more, Trump’s proposed budget would cut funding for wildlife habitat management by 76 percent — to $35 million from $149 million.
Such proposed cuts would need to make it through Congress, which is far from resolving fiscal 2026 spending. A Sept. 30 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown is fast approaching.
The major exception among programs targeted in the guidance document is the bureau’s wild horse and burro program, which was prioritized during Trump’s first term in office.
BLM in 2019 implemented a plan to aggressively reduce excess numbers of wild horses and burros on federal rangelands, which had reached record levels by 2020. That plan was carried over during the Biden administration, and wild horse and burro populations have been significantly reduced in the past six years.
But as a result of the increased roundups, BLM is currently holding more than 60,000 horses and burros in off-range holding corrals and pastures, costing it more than $100 million a year to care for these animals.
The latest OMB directive also targets the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, the 1998 federal law directing BLM to sell certain lands around Las Vegas and use the revenues to fund conservation, recreation and environmental projects in southern Nevada. It’s not clear why expenses associated with this law are targeted in the guidance, which offers no details on what the administration wants to do with the law.
While the OMB guidance does include exemptions to comply with the law, public safety and federal payroll requirements, Shugert’s email notes that any exception to the directive must be approved in advance by Jessica Huffman, BLM’s budget director, and Melissa Hutchison, BLM’s head of contracting activity.
Scott Streater can be reached on Signal at s_streater.80.
Reporter Robin Bravender contributed.
