Dear editor:
When the House voted this summer to erase Bureau of Land Management plans in Montana, North Dakota, and Alaska, many Wyomingites may have looked away. After all, it doesn’t touch our state today.
But the danger is clear: if Congress can rip up years of planning elsewhere with a single vote, Wyoming could be next.
These plans are not minor. Resource Management Plans (RMPs) take a decade or more to create. They balance energy, ranching, recreation, wildlife, and tribal rights.
They involve public hearings, scientific review, and consultation with local communities. They are meant to last a generation.
The legal basis for this repeal is shaky. The Congressional Review Act allows 60 legislative days in the House or 60 session days in the Senate to act on a rule.
Analysts count the Senate’s session days as the controlling clock, since CRA’s expedited procedures apply there. By that measure, the 60-day window closed by mid-May 2025. Yet the resolutions moving now were not introduced until July. If so, they may already be outside the law and vulnerable in court.
Even setting legality aside, the precedent is alarming.
Here in Wyoming, our RMPs cover millions of acres and billions of dollars in activity.
Hunters and anglers depend on science-based habitat management. Ranchers rely on predictable grazing rules.
Energy producers need permitting certainty. If Congress replaces years of planning with politics, every one of these interests is at risk.
The Senate has not voted yet. That means Wyoming still has a voice.
Sens John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis should oppose this misuse of the CRA and stand up for the long-term stewardship that Wyoming’s lands — and livelihoods — deserve.
Maggie McAllister
Sublette County, Wyoming
