Press Releases

Today, Congressional Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04) and Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) released the following statements on the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Conservation and Landscape Health final rule. This rule contradicts Congressional intent under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) of 1976 by elevating conservation as an eligible “use” under the law’s multiple-use framework and expands designations of Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), effectively locking up lands across the West.
 
“Once again, President Biden and Secretary Haaland are confusing ‘conservation’ for ‘preservation’ with this illegal final rule that violates the multiple-use mandate established by FLPMA,” said Chairman Newhouse. “Let’s be clear, this is just another way to lock up America’s abundant natural resources, end grazing on federal lands, and limit public access to our public lands for the sake of climate alarmism. This is a direct assault on the Western way of life and the Congressional Western Caucus will support any and all efforts to overturn this blatant overreach from the Biden Administration.”
 
“The people of Wyoming and throughout the west have once again been put on the backburner by this administration to score political points with climate change activists,” said Chair Lummis. “The BLM’s new public lands rule is an egregious violation of its multiple-use mandate that immediately threatens public access and use of almost half of Wyoming’s land, delivering a nearly fatal blow to Wyoming’s ranching, energy and tourism industry. This policy will have devastating consequences for the state of Wyoming and the entire west, and I will support any effort to overturn this egregious overreach.”