Congress Sends Resolution to Halt BLM Planning Rule to President

The Senate earlier this week joined the House in approving a Farm Bureau-supported resolution (H.J. Res. 44) to stop an Obama administration rule that would weaken the influence of local and regional input on Bureau of Land Management decisions. The resolution now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature.

Known as “Planning 2.0,” the far-reaching rule incorporated numerous Obama-era presidential and secretarial orders, along with internal agency guidance and policy documents. By reducing the opportunity for public comment, minimizing federal requirements to coordinate with state and local governments and imposing new mitigation requirements, Planning 2.0 would have caused significant problems in the federal land use planning processes.

The rule demonstrated a clear overreach by the BLM, in spite of the agency’s claim that the ‘primary goal of the proposed rulemaking process is to improve the agency’s ability to respond to environmental, economic and social changes in a timely manner.'

The American Farm Bureau Federation and 12 Western state Farm Bureaus in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).

In addition to AFBF, the groups that signed the letter are: Alaska Farm Bureau, Arizona Farm Bureau, California Farm Bureau, Colorado Farm Bureau, Idaho Farm Bureau, Montana Farm Bureau, Nevada Farm Bureau, New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, Oregon Farm Bureau, Washington Farm Bureau, Wyoming Farm Bureau and Utah Farm Bureau.