States’ Challenge to Public Lands Rule

July 25, 2024 — Advocates for the West and our partners filed a motion to intervene in federal court to defend the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) recently finalized Public Lands Rule. The motion comes in response to a case and motion for preliminary injunction filed by the States of Utah and Wyoming that seeks to prevent the BLM from implementing the rule. We are representing the Conservation Lands Foundation in the intervention, which was filed together with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and The Wilderness Society.

The Public Lands Rule went into effect in June 2024 after a year-long process to engage the public in its development. Conservation groups celebrated the finalization of the rule, which was overwhelmingly supported during the comment period. Among other things, the rule reiterates that conservation is part of the BLM’s multiple-use mission and ensures that the agency will manage for this use on a day-in and day-out basis. The rule establishes a “… framework to ensure healthy landscapes, abundant wildlife habitat, clean water, and balanced decision-making on our nation’s public lands.”

On June 18, 2024, the States of Utah and Wyoming filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Utah over the recently finalized Public Lands Rule. Federal lawsuits have also been filed by the States of North Dakota, Idaho, and Montana in North Dakota, and industry groups have filed a third action in Wyoming.