JUNE 5, 2025 |
Photo – Rock Springs Field Office of BLM – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Rock Springs Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management announced on Wednesday it is opening a new opportunity to amend the Rock Springs Resource Management plan first published in 2024.
The RMP was the source of bitter controversy across southern Wyoming because of the Biden Administration’s attempt to close off federal lands from the public which would have put residents out of work and closed area recreational opportunities.
Governor Mark Gordon welcomed Wednesday’s news.
Moving forward, the BLM Rock Springs Field Office will be issuing a Notice of Intent to amend the Rock Springs RMP. The announcement could come as early this week, giving the public another opportunity to weigh in on the plan.
The current plan was sharply criticized and repeatedly challenged by Governor Gordon. The Governor said, “I am encouraged that this process is beginning. It is one I have advocated for since it became clear the Biden Administration had largely ignored Wyoming’s Consistency Review.”
Governor Gordon thanked President Donald Trump for issuing Executive Order 14154, which reverses the Biden Administration’s war on coal and open spaces in the West. The President’s executive order, dated May 5, 2025, argues that “the calculation of the social cost of carbon ‘is marked by logical deficiencies, a poor basis in empirical science, politicization, and the absence of a foundation in legislation.’”
In the EO, President Trump urged federal agencies to review statutory, regulatory and other policy requirements and limit their findings on greenhouse gasses to their governing statutes.
In the Governor’s statement welcoming the BLM’s change of direction, Gordon said, “This is an opportunity to correct a flawed document.”
