BLM planning 2.0 proposed rule causes concerns

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a final version of BLM planning 2.0. BLM said it developed the rule through years of work with state and local governments, cooperators, communities, stakeholders and the public at large. The rule updates regulations that are more than 30 years old, provides additional and more robust opportunities for input into the agency’s planning process and ensures that science is a cornerstone of BLM’s planning work. BLM launched this effort after hearing from stakeholders that the current planning process is too slow and cumbersome. However, stakeholders are not pleased. Ethan Lane, executive director of the Public Lands Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Assn. federal lands, said this process radically alters federal land management planning and moves the agency away from its mandate to manage for multiple use on federal lands. “We are continuing to review how much, if any, our input has been incorporated into the final plan, but regardless, we object to the Administration moving forward in the final days of the President’s term with this hastily released regulation -- particularly with one that will have such dramatic economic impact on western states,” Lane said. Of the final rule, Rep. Paul A. Gosar (R., Ariz.), chairman-elect of the Congressional Western Caucus, said, “BLM 2.0 is a bureaucratic nightmare that will kill jobs and create unnecessary permitting delays.”...more