Central Wyoming News

U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has expressed significant concerns regarding the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Greater Sage-Grouse Rangewide Planning Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment (Draft RMPA). In a letter addressed to BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning, Barrasso urged an extension of the current 90-day comment period, which ends on June 13, 2024, by at least 180 days. He argued that this extension would provide local stakeholders sufficient time to review the extensive 660-page document.

The proposed planning area covers nearly 121 million acres of federal land across Wyoming and nine other states with sage-grouse habitat. The amendment could impact up to 69 million acres of public land used for various purposes including grazing, forestry, recreation, and energy production.

Senator Barrasso emphasized the importance of local expertise in land management decisions. “This one-size-fits-all approach to land management is a disaster for local experts and officials and will create even more strife for stakeholders with vested interests in these acres that are de-facto withdrawn from development,” he wrote. He further stressed the need for maintaining good-faith cooperation between state and local governments and impacted communities while preserving flexible management practices.

In his letter, Barrasso highlighted concerns about unequal consideration given to energy development impacts versus those from wildfire events and drought on sage-grouse habitat. He suggested that this imbalance might stem from a bias against oil and gas development while neglecting other significant threats to species conservation.

Barrasso also pointed out that since 2015, annual appropriation packages have included provisions preventing funds from being used to propose greater sage-grouse for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). He noted that Wyoming's conservation efforts have been effective in maintaining stable sage-grouse populations without additional federal restrictions.

He concluded by urging BLM to continue supporting state and local community efforts in land management planning through voluntary agreements and solutions from stakeholders. “We will continue to closely monitor the BLM review process for these management plans and expect to see our requests taken into consideration,” he stated.