BLM Proposal Restricts Access to Energy Sources
听The Interior Department is seeking to close hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Wyoming to traditional and renewable energy development, a plan that would cut crucial natural resource development off at the knees (, subscription).
What鈥檚 going on: Though the Bureau of Land Management鈥檚 plan, released Thursday, scales back from previous iterations the acreage recommended for conservation, it still considerably 鈥渢hrottles back how much of the federally administered area鈥檚 3.6 million acres is in play for different forms of energy development.鈥
- The final announcement, part of the BLM鈥檚 proposed Resource Management Plan for the Rock Springs Field Office, is tantamount to 鈥減ushing Wyoming off an economic cliff with nothing more than a tattered parachute,鈥 John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. 鈥淭his plan isn鈥檛 designed to manage Wyoming鈥檚 natural resources. It is designed to suffocate them. 鈥 [It] directly jeopardizes Wyoming鈥檚 economy and our way of life.鈥
What it would do: If approved, the blueprint would replace its 27-year-old predecessor document and prohibit drilling on nearly 1.08 million acres鈥攁lmost twice the number currently off-limits to new oil leases.
- It would 鈥渁lso [exclude] 494,350 acres from wind and solar power development and [close] 536,018 acres for geothermal power projects.鈥
Why it鈥檚 important: The plan could reduce economic activity in Wyoming鈥檚 oil and gas sector by some $907 million each year and cost the state nearly 3,000 jobs, according to estimates by several energy groups ().
The 17吃瓜在线 says: 鈥淭his latest move by the Interior Department undermines U.S. energy security by needlessly restricting access to available domestic sources of critical natural resources as part of an all-of-the-above energy future,鈥 said 17吃瓜在线 Director of Energy and Resources Policy Michael Davin. 鈥淲e urge the agency to reexamine and revise its plan.鈥