September 28, 2023 |
Photo – Director of Bureau of Land Management Tracy Stone-Manning – Courtesy BLM
Governor Mark Gordon sent a letter to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director Tracy Stone-Manning requesting that the BLM withdraw its Rock Springs Draft Resource Management Plan (RMP) with its conservation-dominated Preferred Alternative.
The draft RMP covers 3.6 million acres managed by the BLM’s Rock Springs Field Office. The Governor is requesting the BLM withdraw the plan and resubmit a new preferred alternative that is based on cooperation with impacted communities.
The Bureau’s preferred alternative is the “most restrictive” of the four alternatives. It would designate 1.8 million acres of public lands as Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, making the areas off-limits for oil and gas development. The governor said the draft represents a “troubling and dramatic shift in the agency’s approach” to managing federal lands that belong to the public.
“Wyoming and local cooperators have worked long and hard to lead, build, and maintain partnerships for effective and responsible land management policies,” Governor Gordon said in a statement.
“Over a decade’s worth of contributions from local stakeholders, cooperators, counties, and state agencies are either falling on deaf ears or disingenuously being thrown by the wayside with this decision.”
The governor added that the proposal developed by the Biden Administration is politically driven and destructive for cooperative federalism. In his letter, Gordon used multiple adjectives in referring to the federal agency’s preferred alternative, including “outlandish,” “impractical” and “ham-fisted.”
In concluding his letter, in which he demanded a response by October 17, the governor said the choice of Alternative B should be withdrawn and resubmitted.
A public meeting on the RMP was held last night in Rock Springs.
