October 17, 2023 |
PHOTO – Sweetwater County Land Use Restriction Map – Courtesy BLM
At a meeting last week in Cheyenne, the Wyoming Legislature’s Natural Resource Management Committee took a hard stand against the Bureau of Land Management’s draft plan that pushes mining, ranching and other human uses off 3.6 million acres of federal land in Sweetwater County.
The joint committee will draft a measure to prohibit state and local authorities from cooperating with federal land management agencies “when they pursue policies which harm Wyoming’s core interests.”
After hearing several hours of testimony on October 6 regarding the BLM’s draft resource management plan revision for the Rock Springs field office, the committee determined it threatens the state’s economy and outdoor culture.
Senator Brian Boner focused on the federal plan causing a $1 billion hit on Wyoming’s economy.
Boner also noted that the Bureau’s plan would reduce the economic impact of agricultural producers operating in the checkerboard of lands in Sweetwater County.
No one from the BLM office in Washington, D.C., where much of the plan originated, was at last week’s hearing in Cheyenne. Only bureau officials from Wyoming provided testimony.
Republican Senator John Kolb of Sweetwater County said the BLM’s plan to curtail mineral and extractive industries underestimates the massive impact Washington will have on the livelihoods of residents in the state’s fourth-most populous county. Kolb said the BLM’s analysis is incomplete. The state senator then asked a question that put light on the fuzzy thinking inside the BLM’s plan.
The response from the BLM’s Associate Director Kris Kirby provided no helpful insight. Kirby’s response did hint at the true agenda of the radical leadership of the Bureau in Washington, namely, the removal of human presence on federal land.
The agency’s preferred alternative — “alternative B” — in the draft proposal’s would expand “no surface occupancy” designations for industrial activities and increase the acreage that’s off-limits to new rights-of-way for things like roads, power lines and pipelines by 481%.
The Bureau’s radical plan has been met by a hardline policy of non-cooperation by Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office. The legislative committee last week agreed to adopt a similar stance—enact a statewide prohibition on enforcing federal land management agency policies, including those of the U.S. Forest Service.
At the conclusion of public testimony, the committee drew up several pieces of draft legislation to be considered in the next session. The committee also asked for a draft letter to be signed by the governor asking the BLM to withdraw its draft plan.
The committee also voted to draft a bill that would create a new state office to protect Wyoming against federal overreach. The intent of the proposed legislation is to provide continuity of oversight against federal interference from one governor to the next.
