ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 18, 2024
The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a new rule for public land management that puts conservation on more equal footing with oil drilling, grazing and other extractive industries on vast government-owned properties. Officials pushed past strong opposition from private industry and Republican governors to adopt the proposal. GOP members of Congress said that they will seek to invalidate it. The rule from the Bureau of Land Management — which oversees more than 380,000 square miles of land — will allow public property to be leased for restoration in the same way that oil companies lease land for drilling. The rule also promotes the designation of more “areas of critical environmental concern” — a special status that can restrict development on land with historic or cultural significance or that’s important for wildlife conservation.