Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum announced Wednesday that he intends to reverse the 2024 Public Lands Rule enacted by President Joe Biden. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo
Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The Department of the Interior announced Wednesday that it plans to rescind a 2024 rule created to protect public lands with "no use" protections.
The federal government can lease its owned land to private organizations. The 2024 Public Lands Rule, enacted by then-President Joe Biden, would have allowed tribes, states and conservation districts to lease lands to preserve them.
The administration wants to end the rule because "stakeholders, including the energy industry, recreational users and agricultural producers, across the country expressed deep concern that the rule created regulatory uncertainty, reduced access to lands, and undermined the long-standing multiple-use mandate of the [Bureau of Land Management] as established by Congress. Now, the BLM proposes to rescind this rule in full," a press release said.
"The previous administration's Public Lands Rule had the potential to block access to hundreds of thousands of acres of multiple-use land -- preventing energy and mineral production, timber management, grazing and recreation across the West," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. "The most effective caretakers of our federal lands are those whose livelihoods rely on its well-being. Overturning this rule protects our American way of life and gives our communities a voice in the land that they depend on."
