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The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to pass Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions targeting the Bureau of Land Management resource management plans (RMPs) for the Miles City Field Office in Montana and the North Dakota Field Office.
RMPs provide the foundation for stability and order on America’s public lands, guiding how millions of acres are managed for energy, recreation, and conservation. These plans have never been treated as “rules” under the CRA, and approving CRA resolutions to overturn these plans breaks decades of precedent—inviting chaos across the nation’s public lands system.
Using the CRA on RMPs in this way casts doubt on the legitimacy of every RMP adopted since the CRA’s passage in 1996, throwing the management of hundreds of millions of acres of public lands into chaos.
“Teddy Roosevelt is rolling over in his grave,” said Senate Energy and Natural Resources ranking member Martin Heinrich. “Imagine sweeping away years and years of input, conversations, not just about the public lands on one landscape but to public lands across this country, all because you what? Found a quicker, easier way?”
The Senate is expected to vote on another CRA resolution targeting the Central Yukon RMP in Alaska later this week.
Emails show tension between Senate staffer and Interior official over DOI downsizing plans
Emails obtained by E&E News reveal frustration between a Senate staffer and Interior department DOGE operative Tyler Hassen earlier this year. Daniel Mencher, the clerk for the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, emailed Hassen seeking information and requesting a briefing about the Trump administration’s voluntary staff downsizing programs. “Many of my members are concerned and hearing DOI/NPS plans might alleviate said concerns,” said Mencher via email.
The series of emails that followed shows Mencher's increasing frustration as Hassen delayed scheduling a briefing. “Tyler - How about you acknowledge you’re either not going to brief me or we get this on the books? At this point you’re just being rude,” Mencher wrote shortly before the briefing was scheduled on June 8.
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This vote is a power grab by a fossil-fuel friendly majority in Congress that will likely backfire spectacularly. By using the Congressional Review Act in this way, Congress is opening Pandora’s box on public lands, throwing the management of millions of acres into chaos. Ironically, oil and gas companies could be stripped of thousands of leasing permits thanks to this vote.”
