Defending BLM’s ability to manage for healthy landscapes, wildlife, clean water, cultural resources
25th of Jul 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.
“It is long past time for the States of Utah and Wyoming to support responsible use of our public lands, and stop doing the bidding of the ‘Lords of Yesterday,'” said Todd Tucci, Senior Attorney at Advocates for the West. “Nearly 50 years ago, Congress demanded that mining and other resource-intensive uses be balanced with conservation and other uses of our public lands. The Public Lands Rule simply recognizes this statutory requirement, and puts conservation, recreation, and other uses on equal footing with extractive activities.”
“What we find most disappointing and puzzling about Utah and Wyoming’s lawsuit against the rule is that it appears to be motivated by their fear of implementing existing law—the Federal Land Policy and Management Act—and the will of the people,” said Charlotte Overby, Vice President of Conservation Field Programs at the Conservation Lands Foundation. “Legal experts, including 8 state attorneys general and 27 law professors, have repeatedly confirmed that the rule upholds BLM’s core mission and it was shaped by a robust public process with more than 90% of public comments in support. It also has the support of western lawmakers, local elected officials, governors, and opinion leaders, who understand that this new guidance is needed to keep important recreation areas—that are also local economic engines—accessible to the public, improve ecological and climate resistance, and provide the tools managers need to restore these public lands from wildfires, droughts, and other negative impacts.”
“Instead of seeing the Public Lands Rule as a way to work with BLM on shared conservation goals, the State of Utah and its leaders are fighting these efforts at every turn,” said Stephen Bloch, Legal Director at the the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “This lawsuit is out of touch with the majority of Utahns who support conservation and know climate change is a serious problem. Utah is predicted to be hit particularly hard by the impacts of a hotter, drier, and more unpredictable climate. The Public Lands Rule gives BLM and the public a framework and important tools to begin work to stem the tide.”
“The lawsuit and preliminary injunction request by Utah and Wyoming constitute a vote to let big fossil fuel and development interests keep pulling the strings and set the agenda for how we use our natural resources. The BLM Public Lands Rule, meanwhile, seeks the balanced approach prescribed for the agency by Congress almost a half-century ago,” said Alison Flint, Senior Legal Director at The Wilderness Society. “The Wilderness Society has worked for nearly 90 years to defend public lands. Continuing that work entails vigorously defending the public lands rule so we can meet the challenges of a hotter, drier, and more crowded future in the American West.”
Background
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. 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—ensuring that the agency protects clean water and wildlife habitat, restores lands and waters that need it, and makes informed management decisions based on science, data and Indigenous knowledge.
At Issue
The Public Lands Rule went into effect in June 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, and are now engaging to defend it from attacks.
