Overview
- BLM rescinded the 2024 Conservation and Landscape Health Rule on Monday, a policy that had treated conservation on par with drilling, mining and grazing, with the repeal taking effect 30 days after Tuesday’s Federal Register publication.
- The agency proposed new grazing regulations that open a 60-day public comment period and cover roughly 155 million acres, saying the changes give ranchers more flexibility and ease upkeep burdens on permit holders.
- Interior officials said the repeal restores the legal focus on “multiple use” and aligns land management with national energy policy, and Secretary Doug Burgum argued the Biden rule could have blocked access to hundreds of thousands of acres.
- Environmental groups condemned the rollback and said they are weighing lawsuits, noting a review of about 130,000 public comments found 97.9% opposed rescinding the rule.
- Oil, gas and ranching groups praised the shift as reversing what they called agency overreach and bringing more predictable permitting, and the move tracks with President Trump’s 2025 “Unleashing American Energy” directive to speed approvals.