Republicans move to lift drilling and mining restrictions in Western
states
[September 05, 2025] By
MATTHEW BROWN
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Republican lawmakers in Congress are clearing the
way for President Donald Trump’s plans to expand mining and drilling on
public lands by moving to eliminate energy development limits in several
Western states.
House Republicans on Wednesday night voted largely along party lines to
repeal land management plans adopted in the closing days of former
President Joe Biden's administration that restricted development in
large areas of Alaska, Montana and North Dakota.
Biden's goal was in part to reduce climate-warming emissions from the
burning of fossil fuels extracted from federal land. Under Trump,
Republicans are casting aside those aspirations as they open more
taxpayer-owned land to development, hoping to create more jobs and
revenue.
“This is a great day for Americans across the country as we continue our
work to unleash our natural resources, support local economies and
communities and strengthen our energy and national security,” said
Arkansas Republican Rep. Bruce Westerman, who chairs the House Natural
Resources Committee.
The Republican-majority Senate must still approve the House action, and
some lawmakers already have expressed support.
Democrats had urged rejection of the repeals, which were accomplished
using a procedure known as the Congressional Review Act that allows
lawmakers to undo some recent actions taken by the executive branch.
“Republicans preside over an economy in which everything is getting more
expensive,” Rep. Joe Neguse, a Colorado Democrat, said during debate on
the measures. “Their answer to all of this? More coal.”
Trump declared a “national energy emergency” in January as he sought to
speed approvals for oil, gas and coal projects.
On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced the first coal
lease awarded to a company during Trump's current term — 18.3 million
tons (16.6 million tonnes) of the fuel at the Freedom Mine near Beulah,
North Dakota. Coteau Property Companies bought the lease for $106,000
and must submit royalty payments on the coal it extracts. The sale had
been scheduled before Wednesday's votes by lawmakers.
Administration officials in July announced their intention to undo the
Biden-era land use plans, aiming to open more areas to mining and
development. Through the usual rulemaking process that could take months
or even years.
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In this April 4, 2013, file photo, a mining dumper truck hauls coal
at Cloud Peak Energy's Spring Creek strip mine near Decker, Mont. AP
Photo/Matthew Brown, File)
 By contrast, a Congressional repeal
would go into effect quickly, setting the stage for the
administration to execute sales, including a proposal for a
167-million-ton (152-million-tonne) coal lease in southeastern
Montana. That sale, requested by the Navajo Transitional Energy Co.,
is scheduled for Oct. 6. However, no leases could be issued while
the Biden-era land use plan for the area remains in effect,
according to sale documents.
“This was the heavy hand of big government crushing an entire
industry,” Montana Republican Rep. Troy Downing said of the plan.
In Alaska, the state's lone U.S. House member, Republican Nick
Begich, said repealing the management plan for the central Yukon
region would open access to critical minerals and help support a
proposed liquefied natural gas project. Opponents, including a
consortium of 40 federally recognized tribes, worry a repeal would
put subsistence harvests at risk because the lands include important
habitat for salmon and caribou.
Wednesday's votes marked the first time Congress has attempted to
use the review act to overturn a land use plan, said Neguse.
An earlier attempt by Republicans to open more federal lands to
development called for the sale of more than 2 million acres
(809,372 hectares) to states or other entities. That proposal, from
Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, was excluded from the GOP’s big tax
and spending cuts bill amid fierce opposition from some fellow
Republicans.
The Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the Interior
Department, oversees the lands covered by the disputed management
plans.
The land agency on Tuesday announced a separate proposal aimed at
increasing mining and drilling in Western states with populations of
greater sage grouse. The ground-dwelling birds have been declining
for decades because of disease and habitat lost to energy
development, grazing and wildfires.
Biden administration officials proposed limits on development and
prohibitions against mining to help protect grouse. However, the
Democrat's four-year term ended before many of those measures were
finalized.
___
Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, contributed.
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