Billings, Montana — The Interior Department is repealing a Biden-era rule that gave conservation a larger role in decisions over federal public lands, marking another shift toward expanded drilling, logging, mining, and grazing under President Donald Trump.
The 2024 rule applied to lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, which manages about 10% of land in the United States. It allowed public land to be leased for restoration and conservation in a manner similar to leases used for oil and gas development.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and other critics argued the rule could have restricted access to large areas of public land, limiting energy production, timber activity, and grazing. Industry groups and Republicans said the policy elevated “non-use” of federal land above the multiple-use mission that has long guided the agency.
Supporters of the rule said conservation had historically received less attention than extractive uses. Bobby McEnaney of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the repeal would mean fewer protections for drinking water, wildlife habitat, and damaged landscapes.
The repeal is scheduled to take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register. It follows other Republican efforts to reverse late Biden-era land management plans that limited development in parts of Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota.
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