Orders put RMP on hold

The future of the controversial Resource Management Plan (RMP) for the Bureau of Land Management's Rock Springs Field Office is less certain than ever after federal orders have essentially paused the process in order to review and potentially revise the plan.

Sweetwater County elected officials recently shared the news that orders have been given that could revise the plan. The RMP would address how public lands in the county are managed, and has been strongly criticized by officials.

"The Rock Springs RMP, in its current form developed under the Biden Administration, would impose unnecessary restrictions on multiple-use public lands, threatening responsible energy development, grazing, and outdoor recreation - industries that are the backbone of Wyoming's economy and way of life," a press release from several Sweetwater County legislators expressed. "Without revision, the plan would significantly limit access to public lands and negatively impact the livelihoods of hardworking Wyoming residents, undermining our economic stability."

Many local officials have now expressed their optimism at this new development.

"Absolutely I think they're a positive thing," Sweetwater County Commissioner Taylor Jones said of the orders. "It at least gives us the opportunity to try and work for something reasonable and responsible, and so I definitely think it's positive."

The orders affecting the RMP are President Donald Trump's Executive Order 14154 and newly-appointed Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum's Secretary's Order 3418. Both orders are titled "Unleashing American Energy," and have to do with removing "burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations" that "have impeded the development" of energy and natural resources, as the executive order states.

Secretary Burgum's order follows and builds on the executive order, giving more specifics, including directing all Assistant Secretaries in the Department of the Interior to "promptly review all agency actions and submit an action plan," including reviewing specific regulations and plans.

"It actually calls out two plans pertaining to Sweetwater County," Commissioner Jones pointed out.

The order directs the Assistant Secretaries to include steps to accomplish "actions to review and, as appropriate, revise all relevant draft and all finalized resource management plans," including the Rock Springs RMP and the proposed Greater Sage-Grouse plan, which are specifically mentioned.

"So basically what all that does is put a pause on the RMP," Jones explained. "It didn't kill it, it's not done, we're not necessarily starting from scratch. It just stopped everything."

The concept behind the order is that the direction of the RMP needs to be changed to align with the new presidential administration, according to Jones. The question of where things go from here in that process is still being worked on. Jones added that the Wyoming representatives in Washington, D.C. have been working to address the RMP and will continue to do so under these new orders.

"We are working well with all of our delegation in Washington, D.C. and with our governor, and we certainly appreciate all of their efforts," he said. "But it is a complicated process," he admitted, referring to the whole thing as "muddy water."

Since the orders provide a change in direction of the process of addressing the RMP, Jones explained that the potential of pursuing litigation regarding the plan, which the commissioners had previously discussed, has also been put on hold.

"My feeling is litigation is a last resort," Jones added. "I don't think anybody wishes that. I do think we all planned on it taking place, and figured that's where it would be. But then we got a different administration in and executive orders, and now the Secretary's orders, so the whole course has changed. And so I would hope that we don't have to go through litigation. It's very time consuming, it's very expensive, and so I would hope that we can make some changes, we can come to a reasonable agreement that works for everybody, and that's the path we take. That would be my wish." 

Commissioner Jones is also still working on addressing the RMP from the county's side, including putting together a letter to the BLM that will once again point out the "missteps" of the agency throughout the process. The letter will be presented at next week's county commissioner meeting.

Going forward now, Jones is optimistic that the orders will help address the county's concerns.

"It is a very good opportunity for us to hopefully come up with a plan that's reasonable and takes care of as many points of view as possible," he said.

Other elected officials in Sweetwater County have also expressed their approval of the new orders and their gratitude for the citizens and officials who helped fight for changes to the RMP.

"After all the hours, days and months and days this Sweetwater delegation dedicated to the Rock Springs RMP and following all the rules, procedures, and hurdles we finally have an equitable outcome," Representative Cody Wylie from House District 39 said. "I would like to thank all the folks in the community that participated, our local delegation of legislators Albert Sommers, Clark Stith, Tony Niemiec, JT Larson, Jon Conrad, and Stacy Jones. I would also like to thank the Governor for having our backs when it looked like we may not get such a favorable outcome. A special thanks to President Trump, thank you for listening to local people and supporting local solutions." 

"For over a year, our community of Rock Springs has cried foul pushing back with all the resources we had and then some," Representative JT Larson from House District 17 added. "Thanks to all of you, including our hardworking county commissioners, who all stood firm meeting after meeting. And to those who came and commented, your voices were heard! A big thank you to President Trump who heard loud and clear how disastrous this plan would be for Rock Springs for the next two decades and did something about it."  

"The fight for access to our public lands has paid off," Senator Stacy Jones of Senate District 13 said. "This is what I've worked so hard for-the Task Force meetings, the public meetings, the difficult meetings with local BLM directors, and a trip to D.C. to protect our access. The rollback of the Rock Springs BLM RMP was a fight from the people, for the people. But the hard work isn't over yet-it has just reset!"