Republicans move to lift drilling and mining restrictions in Western states

Key Points

• Republican lawmakers in Congress are moving to repeal restrictions on drilling and mining on public lands in several Western states, aiming to boost job creation and economic growth.
• The repeal targets land management plans established during the Biden administration that aimed to mitigate climate change by limiting fossil fuel developments in Alaska, Montana, and North Dakota.
• This decision is facilitated through the use of the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to quickly overturn recent executive actions, marking the first time it has been used to challenge land use plans.
• Opposition from Democrats highlights concerns that increasing coal production will not address rising costs in the economy, expressing skepticism about the effectiveness of this approach.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Congress are clearing the way for President Donald Trump’s plans to expand mining and drilling on public lands by moving to eliminate energy development limits in several Western states.

House Republicans on Wednesday night voted largely along party lines to repeal land management plans adopted in the closing days of former President Joe Biden's administration that restricted development in large areas of Alaska, Montana and North Dakota.

Biden's goal was in part to reduce climate-warming emissions from the burning of fossil fuels extracted from federal land. Under Trump, Republicans are casting aside those aspirations as they open more taxpayer-owned land to development, hoping to create more jobs and revenue.

“This is a great day for Americans across the country as we continue our work to unleash our natural resources, support local economies and communities and strengthen our energy and national security,” said Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee.

The Republican-majority Senate must still approve the House action, and some lawmakers already have expressed support.

Democrats had urged rejection of the repeals, which were accomplished using a procedure known as the Congressional Review Act that allows lawmakers to undo some recent actions taken by the executive branch.

“Republicans preside over an economy in which everything is getting more expensive,” Rep. Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat, said during debate on the measures. “Their answer to all of this? More coal.”

Trump declared a “national energy emergency” in January as he sought to speed approvals for oil, gas and coal projects.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced the first coal lease awarded to a company during Trump's current term — 18.3 million tons (16.6 million tonnes) of the fuel at the Freedom Mine near Beulah, North Dakota. Coteau Property Companies bought the lease for $106,000 and must submit royalty payments on the coal it extracts. The sale had been scheduled before Wednesday's votes by lawmakers.

Administration officials in July announced their intention to undo the Biden-era land use plans, aiming to open more areas to mining and development. Through the usual rulemaking process that could take months or even years.

By contrast, a Congressional repeal would go into effect quickly, setting the stage for the administration to execute sales, including a proposal for a 167-million-ton (152-million-tonne) coal lease in southeastern Montana. That sale, requested by the Navajo Transitional Energy Co., is scheduled for Oct. 6. However, no leases could be issued while the Biden-era land use plan for the area remains in effect, according to sale documents.

“This was the heavy hand of big government crushing an entire industry,” Montana Republican Rep. Troy Downing said of the plan.

In Alaska, the state's lone U.S. House member, Republican Nick Begich, said repealing the management plan for the central Yukon region would open access to critical minerals and help support a proposed liquefied natural gas project. Opponents, including a consortium of 40 federally recognized tribes, worry a repeal would put subsistence harvests at risk because the lands include important habitat for salmon and caribou.

Wednesday's votes marked the first time Congress has attempted to use the review act to overturn a land use plan, said Neguse.

An earlier attempt by Republicans to open more federal lands to development called for the sale of more than 2 million acres (809,372 hectares) to states or other entities. That proposal, from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, was excluded from the GOP’s big tax and spending cuts bill amid fierce opposition from some fellow Republicans.

The Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the Interior Department, oversees the lands covered by the disputed management plans.

The land agency on Tuesday announced a separate proposal aimed at increasing mining and drilling in Western states with populations of greater sage grouse. The ground-dwelling birds have been declining for decades because of disease and habitat lost to energy development, grazing and wildfires.

Biden administration officials proposed limits on development and prohibitions against mining to help protect grouse. However, the Democrat's four-year term ended before many of those measures were finalized.

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Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed.