Trump Admin Cancels Rule That Made Conservation a 'Use' of Public Lands, Because Why Let Nature Have a Turn?

The US interior department has scrapped a 2024 rule that dared to treat conservation with the same respect as development, because nothing says 'public lands' like letting oil drillers and loggers have first dibs. The rule, adopted under former president Joe Biden, was meant to refocus the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which oversees about 10% of US land. It allowed public property to be leased for restoration - like a spa day for ecosystems - in the same way oil companies lease land for drilling. But interior secretary Doug Burgum cried foul, claiming the rule could have blocked access to hundreds of thousands of acres, preventing energy and timber production and hurting ranchers who graze on public lands. Because apparently, letting nature have a moment is a threat to commerce.

Supporters argued that conservation had long been the neglected stepchild at the BLM, overlooked since the 1976 Federal Lands Policy Management Act. While the bureau occasionally issued leases for conservation, it never had a dedicated program until Biden came along. Bobby McEnaney of the Natural Resources Defense Council warned that repealing the rule “means less protection for the clean drinking water, less protection for endangered wildlife, and less accountability when corporations leave these landscapes damaged and degraded.” In other words, the land gets to fend for itself.

Industry groups and their Republican allies, who opposed the rule like cats hate water, said it violated the “multiple use” mandate by promoting the “non-use” of federal lands - i.e., letting land just sit there being ecologically valuable. Dan Naatz of the Independent Petroleum Association of America praised the repeal for providing “greater clarity and predictability” for oil and gas producers, because nothing says clarity like stripping protections for taxpayer-owned land. The repeal takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which occurred Tuesday. It follows Congress canceling Biden-era land management plans that restricted development in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota.

The BLM, which regulates publicly owned underground minerals across over 1 million square miles, has a long history of industry-friendly policies - including selling grazing permits and oil leases for over a century. So this move is less a new low and more a return to form.