Western Conservationists, Tribes File Legal Motion to Defend Public Lands Rule

A coalition of tribal, community, and environmental groups filed a motion to help preserve the federal Bureau of Land Management’s public lands rule after the rule was challenged by states and industry groups reluctant to give up extraction rights on federal lands in several lawsuits.

Today, roughly 90 percent of BLM lands are open to oil and gas leasing. The public lands rule, passed earlier this year, elevates conservation to the same priority as other uses. According to an article from WildEarth Guardians, “The rule upholds the Bureau’s mission to manage public lands for conservation as both the trustee of federal public lands for the benefit of the American people and the regulator of federal public lands uses, according to WELC experts, eight state attorneys general, and 27 law professors. Valid existing rights to graze, mine, and drill will not be affected by the rule’s core provisions.”

Conservation mechanisms and tools included in the rule include “increased Area of Critical Environmental Concern designation, identifying and preserving intact landscapes, instituting widespread land health standards, undertaking restoration planning, and creating a new leasing program focused on restoration and mitigation.”