August 23, 2024|
Photo – Map of Sweetwater County – USGS.gov
U.S. Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis joined Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon on Thursday in condemning a federal decision to take control of public land in Sweetwater County.
The Bureau of Land Management on Thursday released its Proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) and Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on how the Biden-Harris Administration will manage 3.6 million acres of public lands next door in southwestern Wyoming.
Governor Gordon expressed disappointment with the decision and a threat of legal action. “Unfortunately, but not surprisingly,” the governor’s statement reads, “the FEIS for the proposed Rock Springs RMP does not meet Wyoming’s expectations of durable, multiple use of public lands.”
At first blush, one quarter of the lands overseen by Field Office are slated for a designation of critical environmental concern (ACEC), putting them largely off-limits.
The governor said the BLM closed the door to local and cooperative input and “chose to force through national agendas.”
Senator Barrasso took an even dimmer view of the federal decision. “The Biden-Harris administration is pushing Wyoming off an economic cliff with nothing more than a tattered parachute,” said Barrasso. “The Rock Springs Resource Management Plan strangles responsible natural resource development. This plan isn’t designed to manage Wyoming’s natural resources. It is designed to suffocate them.”
Barrasso said the plan jeopardizes Wyoming’s economy and a way of life that has been sustained since before statehood.
Senator Lummis said the “decision is far more focused on appealing to radical environmentalists than supporting western communities.”
Lummis said the Biden-Harris Administration punishes the State of Wyoming and “jeopardizes America’s energy independence and our national security.”
Once the FEIS is published in the Federal Register, the 30-day protest period and the concurrent 60-day Governor’s Consistency Review will begin. Until then, the Record of Decision remains unsigned and the RMP is not final.
