On September 10, the Department of the Interior announced plans to rescind a Biden-era rule that designated conservation as one of the officially recognized uses of public land. It's part of the Trump Administration’s stated goal to increase oil and gas production across the U.S.
In a statement, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said promoting conservation threatened to curtail traditional land uses: “The previous administration's Public Lands Rule had the potential to block access to hundreds of thousands of acres of multiple-use land — preventing energy and mineral production, timber management, grazing and recreation across the West. The most effective caretakers of our federal lands are those whose livelihoods rely on its well-being. Overturning this rule protects our American way of life and gives our communities a voice in the land that they depend on."
Conservationists disagree. They warn that repealing the rule could put public lands at greater risk from extractive industries.
"What the rule did, really, was reaffirm what was already in law,” said Shaaron Netherton, executive director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness. “It wasn't really creating new law. It was just saying follow the Federal Land Policy Management Act and make sure that conservation is being treated like all the other uses on par with the extractive industries."
The prohibition on road-making or major reconstruction of roads holds at bay things like oil and gas leasing. This administration is putting a premium on mandating more and more oil and gas leasing, Netherton noted. So, maybe it's not the highest-priority oil and gas leasing area in the nation, but it could open up.
However, some argue the Public Lands Rule was unnecessary and verged on federal overreach. That includes Northern Nevada Congressman Mark Amodei, Nevada’s lone Republican representative in Washington. "I think it's doubling down," Amodei told State of Nevada. "It's in conservation, until somebody wants to do something [with the land]."
Earlier this year, Amodei introduced an amendment to the GOP's budget reconciliation bill that called for the sale of tens of thousands of acres of federal land in Nevada. That proposal failed to pass, but Amodei said much of what was introduced continues to live in his Northern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, which would open more federal land to development. He believes it’s the only way municipalities in the state will be able to continue to grow.
"If you want your communities to have the ability to evolve... you've got to pass a public lands bill to remove portions of [public land] out of the federal estate and into the ability of counties and city councils to do their planning and zoning on how they want their community," Amodei said.
Guests: Shaaron Netherton, executive director, Friends of Nevada Wilderness; Congressman Mark Amodei, republican, Nevada's 2nd District
