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Legislative Letters

Re: Oppose the Radical Repeal of the Bureau of Land Management’s Sensible “Planning 2.0” Rule

Mar 3, 2017

Dear Senator:

The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) works to turn environmental values into national priorities.  Each year, LCV publishes the National Environmental Scorecard, which details the voting records of members of Congress on environmental legislation.  The Scorecard is distributed to LCV members, concerned voters nationwide, and the media. 

LCV urges you to vote NO on H.J.Res.44, the Congressional Review Act “Resolution of Disapproval” of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) “Planning 2.0” Rule.  This extreme legislative measure would diminish public participation, waste taxpayer money, and decrease efficiency in how the BLM manages more than 245 million acres of America’s public lands by permanently blocking the agency’s “Planning 2.0” Rule. 

The BLM is required to plan for land use and ensure that it balances the various activities—from recreation to grazing to energy development—that occur on the public lands it manages.  Prior to the “Planning 2.0” Rule, the BLM had been operating under 30-year-old protocols that resulted in land managers taking eight years on average to complete land-use plans for a given land unit. The “Planning 2.0” Rule makes the land-use planning process more efficient by engaging local stakeholders—from local and tribal governments to outdoor recreation businesses to energy developers—earlier in the process, to avoid disputes and revisions later that cost time and taxpayer money.  This will mean better, more transparent decisions by land managers that would benefit local communities that depend on nearby public lands for their livelihoods and quality of life.

H.J.Res.44 is radical legislation that would block this commonsense rule and would prohibit the BLM from developing any similar measure in the future.  The “Planning 2.0” Rule was developed over more than two years during which time the agency received more than 6,000 public comments, while this Congress has yet to even hold a hearing on this extreme legislation. 

We urge you to REJECT this radical legislation. We will strongly consider including votes on this bill in the 2017 Scorecard.  If you need more information, please call my office at (202) 785-8683 and ask to speak with a member of our government relations team. 

Sincerely,

Gene Karpinski

President