Ranchers, miners and mineral extractors in Wyoming should be preparing deregulation lists for the incoming Trump administration and new Congress. Incoming leaders have pledged to undo the onslaught of onerous new rules generated by the Biden administration that frequently target key industries in this state. Chief on the list should be repealing the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan—finalized Friday—which governs how 3.6 million acres of federal land in southwest Wyoming should be used.
The proposed Rock Springs RMP elevates conservation to equal status with grazing, recreation and extraction. Petroleum groups in the state said earlier this year that a version of the plan could lead to both 3,000 jobs lost and $900 million in revenue evaporated. Ranchers would lose leases under the plan as well and many worry it could mean permanent loss of recreational access to thousands of acres in future years.
Congress has a simple tool it could use to rid the state of something guaranteed to permanently damage its economy and way of life: The Congressional Review Act (CRA). The CRA is effectively a legislative veto to federal agency rules. It allows Congress to look back over the last 60 legislative session days and overturn rules they disagree with by simple majority in both houses. If the president signs the bill or Congress overrides a presidential veto, the rule can’t go into effect. If a rule is overturned, it “may not be reissued in substantially the same form,” and the decision will not be subject to judicial review.
Both these tenets of the law mean it would be extremely difficult for the Bureau of Land Management to reissue its Rock Springs plans at a future date under a new administration. Given that the Rock Springs RMP was just finalized, it falls within the window for Congress to review.
Enacted in 1996, the CRA was only used once through 2017. However, during the first two years of Trump’s prior administration when Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate as they will when the next Trump administration takes office, it became a meaningful way to overturn regulations. E & E News, a publication that covers energy and the environment, reported in November that this time around lawmakers have been strategizing for the last two years how to place more rules under the CRA’s purview and which ones to prioritize. It noted that “Republicans have been eyeing Interior Department resource management plans.”
Stacey Daniels, the spokeswoman for Sen. Cynthia Lummis, said she “opposes the Rock Springs RMP and is working with Senator Barrasso to overturn it, including the potential use of the Congressional Review Act.” She added that, “Senate Republicans stand ready to repeal the worst of the Biden administration’s rules that meet the criteria for nullification under the Congressional Review Act.”
Sen. John Barrasso said, “The Trump administration must work immediately to reverse the Biden administration’s war on American energy. The Rock Springs, Buffalo, and Greater Sage-Grouse resource management plans must be rewritten. Together with President Trump, Republicans will make energy and mineral production on federal lands an urgent and top priority.”
Rep. Harriet Hageman has repeatedly said she opposes the Rock Springs plan and has sponsored legislation to restrain federal agency rule-making powers.
Here’s to the new Congress using its time wisely to effectively repeal regulations that arbitrarily restrain economic activity on federal lands and hinder the ability of Wyoming residents to earn a living. And while they’re at it, our elected representatives should also work to return unappropriated federal land to state control to prevent similar situations from arising again.