Published: February 15, 2017 |

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Reform proponents hope that previews a broader overhaul once President Trump is able to put his energy and environment teams in place.

Conservatives, industry groups and reformers pushing to overhaul public land policy say there’s a lot to like from the first month of GOP control in Washington.

Lawmakers have passed several bills undoing Obama-era regulations that conservatives opposed, arguing they give the federal government too much control over lands issues.

“There are so many different groups that are looking for some relief after the last eight years that Congress and the administration are kind of drinking from the firehose at this point,” said Ethan Lane, the executive director of the Public Lands Council and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, which has advocated for federal land reform.

Drillers, miners and conservatives in the West — which has most of the federal government’s land holdings — have long pushed back against the more liberal land management approach pursued by the Obama administration, which focused on conservation and stricter rules on fossil fuel and mineral development.

They see an opening under Trump, who has promised to expand fossil fuel production on public lands and ease Obama-administration rules that critics call burdensome.

“We’re looking for someone who understands that there’s a balance on public lands and that the vast majority of the mineral estate is working landscapes,” Kathleen Sgamma, the president of the Western Energy Alliance industry group, said of potential appointments to public land positions.

In the last two weeks, the House has passed several Congressional Review Act resolutions undoing Obama-administration environmental regulations, including several opposed by industry groups and land reformers.

One of those resolutions ends a Bureau of Land Management rule restricting venting and flaring at natural gas drilling sites on public land. The rule would limit methane pollution, but industry groups say it would be duplicative, unnecessary and costly.

“The oil and gas industry is and should be heavily regulated, but what we saw at the end of the Obama administration was not about reasonable regulations, it was about using regs to drive companies off of public,” Sgamma said. “The GOP is moving in a different direction.”

But that’s not reformers’ only win.

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, has a moderate streak on public land ownership. But he, too, has been a foe of Obama-era energy rules and seems primed to step back from an Obama administration overhaul of the coal royalty program that Democrats hoped would lead to higher fees for mining.

The House also blocked a BLM land planning rule, finalized in December, that foes said gave too much power to the federal government. Both that and the methane measure are awaiting a vote in the Senate and have the White House’s support.

House debate over the planning rule was a microcosm of the broader fight over public lands.

Public land policy — from resource regulations to federal ownership — has been a major concern for many conservatives, who want to distribute more power over lands to states and private entities.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who introduced the bill undoing the planning rule, said the GOP has its chance to change the course set by Obama.

“It is hugely important for us, as we go forward here, to make sure that we have done everything we can to roll back regulations that are really killing our jobs, that are preventing people in our local communities from being able to make a living, from being able to consistently graze, for example, on these public lands,” she said during a floor debate on Tuesday.

Democrats, though, have called the GOP approach an assault on public land ownership.

Source: (February 12, 2017) The Hill

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