The final Public Lands Rule provides tools for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to help improve the health and resilience of public lands in the face of a changing climate; conserve important wildlife habitat and intact landscapes; facilitate responsible development, and better recognize unique cultural and natural resources on public lands.
“The BLM’s Conservation and Landscape Health rule is illegal, unnecessary, and contrary to numerous policy goals of the Biden administration and Congress,” AEMA executive director Mark Compton said in a news release on Monday.
“Our risky reliance on imported minerals is a direct result of five decades of ignoring Congress’ clear directives that minerals should be mined from public lands to help satisfy the Nation’s need for minerals.”
“The Biden administration’s own goals of fighting climate change and reducing carbon emissions require more domestic mining – not less,” Compton added.
“The rule significantly changes the way BLM manages the 245 million acres of public land it oversees, to the detriment of America’s mineral and energy independence goals and resource dependent rural communities that produce the fiber, food, minerals, and energy America requires from its public lands.”
The AEMA said its members are strong supporters of conservation for public lands and all of the country’s resources, and are ready to work with the BLM to further advance these goals.
“However, this will not be accomplished by the flawed and illegal provisions in this rule. We expressed these and many other concerns to the BLM, but our concerns were ignored,” Compton said. “We’re left with no choice but litigation at this point.”
This article was published by: Amanda Stutt
Visit the original article here
