Written by: Cameron Gallentine<\/p>\n
On the campaign trail leading up to the 2020 Election, President Biden styled himself as a more proactive steward of the environment than any past president.[1]<\/a> During a 2020 presidential debate, he even promised to stop new drilling for oil on public lands.[2]<\/a> After the election, conservation-minded voters were further encouraged by his appointment of Rep. Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior, known for her commitment to stewardship of public lands and responsible resource extraction.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n In April of 2024, the Department of the Interior (\u201cInterior\u201d) promulgated the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule (\u201cthe Rule\u201d).[4]<\/a> The Rule represents a sweeping reevaluation of how the Bureau of Land Management (\u201cBLM\u201d) will evaluate proposed uses of public lands.[5]<\/a> The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (\u201cFLPMA\u201d), BLM\u2019s mandate statute, requires that it administer its lands \u201cunder principles of multiple use and sustained yield.\u201d[6]<\/a> In practical terms, this has meant that BLM must weigh competing uses of the land, such as for extraction and recreation, and the land\u2019s ability to provide for those uses in the future.[7]<\/a> The Rule now mandates that the BLM consider the health and longevity of the ecosystem the land supports in its FLPMA analysis.[8]<\/a> Interior hopes that this new, non-anthropocentric factor will strike a more appropriate balance between extraction and conservation.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n Also under the Rule, for the first time in the BLM\u2019s 80-year history[10]<\/a> it will offer \u201cmitigation\u201d and \u201crestoration\u201d leases.[11]<\/a> These leases will be issued to entities that seek to restore or protect tracts of public lands during the lease term but leave those tracts available for extractive use in the future.[12]<\/a> The Rule represents a stark departure from BLM\u2019s status quo.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n The Biden Administration leaves a mixed legacy on resource extraction and green energy after a four-year term in office that ended in 2024. Despite his clear promise on the campaign trail,[14]<\/a> the Administration issued a lease to ConocoPhillips for its $8 billion \u201cWindow\u201d drilling project on federally owned land in Northern Alaska.[15]<\/a> This is not the first drilling lease the Administration issued, but it is the first it issued of its own volition,[16]<\/a> since past permits were issued as a result of court order or Congressional action.[17]<\/a> To its credit, the Administration claims that it issued the ConocoPhillips lease after concluding that a denial was susceptible to legal challenges.[18]<\/a> Conservation advocates disagree however, and view the Administration\u2019s actions as a betrayal.[19]<\/a><\/p>\n To whatever extent environmental voters may be disappointed with President Biden\u2019s handling of the nation\u2019s federally owned lands, they are likely to find President-elect Trump\u2019s handling of the issue even less favorable. During his first term, President Trump nominated William Perry Pendley as director of BLM.[20]<\/a> Pendley is a staunch supporter of fossil fuel extraction and privatization of public lands, going as far as to say recently that upon Trump\u2019s return to the White house, \u201cthe priority has to be oil and gas.\u201d[21]<\/a><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eliza Relman, Biden promised ‘no more drilling on federal lands, period.’ He just broke that pledge to approve a massive oil project in Alaska.<\/em>, Business Insider (March 13, 2023) https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/biden-violates-promise-ban-oil-drilling-federal-land-alaska-willow-2023-3.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 GOP War Room, Biden: \u201cNo Ability For The Oil industry To Continue To Drill, Period, Ends\u201d<\/em>, Youtube (Mar 15, 2020) https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=viAXGth3gQA.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See, e.g.<\/em>, Nina Lakhani, ‘I’ll be fierce for all of us’: Deb Haaland on climate, Native rights and Biden<\/em>, The Guardian (December 27, 2020) https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2020\/dec\/27\/deb-haaland-interview-interior-secretary-native-americans.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conservation and Landscape Health, 89 Fed. Reg. 40308.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> Maxine Joselow, The U.S. just changed how it manages a tenth of its land<\/em>, Washington Post (April 18, 2024) https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/climate-environment\/2024\/04\/18\/biden-public-lands-conservation-rule\/.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 43 U.S.C. \u00a7 1701 et seq. (1976).<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542 U.S. 55, 56 (2004)<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conservation and Landscape Health, 89 Fed. Reg. at 40309-10.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See id.<\/em><\/p>\n [10]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Joselow, supra<\/em> note 5.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conservation and Landscape Health, 89 Fed. Reg. at 40310. A restoration lease is issued for the purpose of restoring a damaged habitat or ecosystem to a \u201cmore natural, resilient ecological state,\u201d and mitigation leases \u201coffset impacts to resources resulting from other land use authorizations.\u201d Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [12]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em><\/p>\n [13]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> Joselow, supra<\/em> note 5.<\/p>\n [14]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> supra<\/em> note 2.<\/p>\n [15]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Relman, supra<\/em> note 1; Willow<\/em>, ConocoPhillips Alaska (April 2022) https:\/\/static.conocophillips.com\/files\/resources\/fact-sheet-willow-final.pdf.<\/p>\n [16]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Relman, supra<\/em> note 1.<\/p>\n [17]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> Louisiana v. Biden<\/em>, 543 F. Supp. 3d 388 (W.D. La. 2021) (granting injunctive relief to plaintiff states against Biden administrations \u201cpause\u201d on drilling),\u00a0vacated and remanded sub nom.<\/u><\/em>\u00a0State of Louisiana v. Biden<\/em>, 45 F.4th 841 (5th Cir. 2022) (vacating injunction on procedural grounds); see also<\/em> Clark Mindock, Judge Doubles Down on Blocking Oil, Gas Pause<\/em>, Reuters (August 19, 2022) https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/litigation\/judge-doubles-down-blocking-biden-oil-gas-pause-13-states-2022-08-19\/.<\/p>\n [18]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Relman, supra<\/em> note 1.<\/p>\n [19]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See id.<\/em><\/p>\n [20]<\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Joselow, supra<\/em> note 5.<\/p>\n