Washington, D.C. — Today, the Bureau of Land Management released a final Public Lands Rule, long-overdue regulations to ensure the conservation and long-term health of the nearly 250 million acres of public lands managed by the agency. This rule provides clear, commonsense guardrails for the agency to consider ecosystem health and resilience in its management decisions, balancing a system that has been historically skewed in favor of oil and gas drilling and related development. The rule would also make sure community- and Tribal-led conservation proposals get fair consideration and guide investments to restore degraded lands and waters. In response, Drew McConville, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Today, the Biden administration is turning the page on decades of conflict and mismanagement of America’s public lands. It’s long past time for the nation’s largest land manager to make conservation more than just an afterthought and to safeguard public lands for the public good. Together with steps to support responsible clean energy and other reforms, the Biden administration is fixing a system rigged long ago to favor oil, gas, and mining interests above all else.
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For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].