Today, the Subcommittee on Federal Lands held a legislative hearing on six bills addressing the Biden administration’s federal overreaches and public land limitations. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) issued the following statement in response:

"The White House’s out-of-touch, preservationist policies are hurting rural economies and ignoring the very people who live, work, and recreate on public land. Today, Republicans on the Federal Lands Subcommittee are fighting back against President Biden’s orchestrated land grabs and war on American energy by enforcing congressional oversight and restricting the ability of NACs to lock up more public land."

Background

While the Biden administration has taken a radical, unbalanced and careless approach in managing federal lands, the subcommittee is advancing legislation to restore a balanced, thoughtful approach to managing public land to benefit the public.

Since taking office, President Joe Biden has unilaterally locked up 3.5 million acres of land in national monument designations. These designations happen behind closed doors, without public input or support. The Biden administration is also attempting to lock up 3.4 million acres of land in Wyoming and Colorado to oil and gas development through restrictive resource management plans (RMPs). These coordinated attacks on balanced, multiple use management threaten to deprive Americans of access to their natural resources and threaten the western way of life, all in an attempt to further the administration’s misguided initiative to lock up 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030.

This is Energy Week, a week on the House floor dedicated to promoting access to American energy resources, supporting American energy producers, and securing America’s energy independence. The bills considered today are part of that effort as the committee works to prevent the Biden administration from locking up massive tracts of land and eliminating energy production on that land. The bills provide clear congressional direction that would end the administration’s abuse of the Antiquities Act and draft RMPs to lock up land, in addition to legislation to prevent natural asset companies from controlling public land.

H.R. 5499, the Congressional Oversight of the Antiquities Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), would amend the Antiquities Act to require congressional approval of presidential declarations within six months of a designation or before the last day of the sitting Congress during which the monument was designated, whichever is earlier. If Congress does not approve the designation, the land covered in the proclamation cannot be designated again by a President for 25 years. 

H.R. 6085, introduced by U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), would prohibit the implementation of the draft RMP and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Rock Springs resource management plan revision. This legislation was drafted in response to the overwhelming local opposition to the draft RMP and EIS and to protect energy production and multiple uses for the land.

H.R. 6547, the Colorado Energy Prosperity Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), would prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from implementing the draft RMP and draft supplemental EIS for the Colorado River Valley to prevent the Biden administration from locking up hundreds of thousands of acres of land and preventing energy development in Colorado.

H.R. 7006, introduced by U.S. Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), would prohibit natural asset companies from entering into any agreements involving Utah's lands or natural assets related to those lands.

H.R. 5015, the Seedlings for Sustainable Habitat Restoration Act of 2023, introduced by U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-N.M), would allow seedling nurseries at state forestry agencies, private or nonprofit entities, and higher-education institutions to be eligible for existing funding to help support investments in reforestation. 

H.R. 6209, the Sloan Canyon Conservation and Lateral Pipeline Act, introduced by U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.), would grant the Southern Nevada Water Authority the power to construct a pipeline under the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area.