Overview
- The House passed three Congressional Review Act resolutions: 211-208 to nullify the Miles City, Mont., plan, 215-211 to undo the North Dakota plan, and 215-210 to roll back Alaska’s Central Yukon plan.
- Biden-era resource plans had restricted leasing, including 1,745,040 acres in the Miles City area set as unavailable, limits in North Dakota confining new leasing to within four miles of existing mines, and constraints affecting oil, gas and mineral exploration in Alaska’s Central Yukon region.
- Republicans framed the repeal effort as boosting energy security, jobs and critical minerals, while Democrats, tribes and conservation groups warned of harm to habitat and an alarming precedent for public-lands planning.
- Using the CRA allows a fast-track reversal and would bar similar agency rules in the future, but the measures still require Senate passage before taking effect.
- A swift repeal could enable near-term actions such as a proposed 167-million-ton coal lease in southeastern Montana scheduled for Oct. 6, even as BLM separately awarded a 18.3-million-ton coal lease at North Dakota’s Freedom Mine.