Republicans vote to roll back Biden-era restrictions on mining and drilling in 3 Western states

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans have voted to roll back 
restrictions on mining, drilling and other development in three Western 
states, advancing President Donald Trump’s ambitions to expand energy 
production from public lands.

Senators voted 50-46 Thursday to repeal a land management plan for a 
large swath of Alaska that was adopted in the final weeks of Democratic 
President Joe Biden’s administration. Lawmakers voted to roll back 
similar plans for land in Montana and North Dakota earlier this week.

The timing of Biden’s actions made the plans vulnerable to the 
Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to terminate rules that 
are finalized near the end of a president’s term. The resolutions 
require a simple majority in each chamber and take effect upon the 
president’s signature.

The House approved the repeals last month in votes largely along party 
lines. Trump is expected to sign the measures, which will boost a 
proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of 
copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals.

Trump ordered approval of the Ambler Road project earlier this week, 
saying it will unlock access to copper, cobalt and other critical 
minerals that the United States needs to compete with China on 
artificial intelligence and other resource development. Copper is used 
in the production of cars, electronics and even renewable energy 
technologies such as wind turbines.

The road was approved in Trump’s first term, but was later blocked by 
Biden after an analysis determined the project would threaten caribou 
and other wildlife and harm Alaska Native tribes that rely on hunting 
and fishing.


The Biden-era restrictions also included a block on new mining leases in 
the nation’s most productive coal-producing region, the Powder River 
Basin in Montana and Wyoming. On Monday, the Trump administration held 
the biggest coal sale in that area in more than a decade, drawing a 
single bid of $186,000 for 167.5 million tons of coal, or about a tenth 
of a penny per ton.

Trump has largely cast aside Biden’s goal to reduce climate-warming 
emissions from the burning of coal and other fossil fuels extracted from 
federal land. Instead, he and congressional Republicans have moved to 
open more taxpayer-owned land to fossil fuel development, hoping to 
create more jobs and revenue. The Republican administration also has 
pushed to develop critical minerals, including copper, cobalt, gold and 
zinc.

A decision on whether to accept the recent bid from the Navajo 
Transitional Energy Co. is pending, and the lease cannot be issued until 
the Montana land plan is altered. The dirt-cheap value reflects dampened 
industry interest in coal despite Trump’s efforts. Many utilities have 
switched to cheaper natural gas or renewables such as wind and solar power.

Administration officials expressed disappointment that they did not 
receive “stronger participation” in the Montana sale. In a statement, 
Interior Department spokesperson Aubrie Spady blamed a “decades long war 
on coal” by Biden and former Democratic President Barack Obama.

Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana said the repeal of the 
land-management plan in his state was “putting an end to disastrous 
Biden-era regulations that put our resource economy on life support.”

Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska called the Biden-era plan for 13 
million acres in the central Yukon region “a clear case of federal 
overreach that locks up Alaska’s lands, ignores Alaska Native voices ... 
and blocks access to critical energy, gravel & mineral resources.”

The GOP legislation “restores balance, strengthens U.S. energy & mineral 
security and upholds the law,” Sullivan said in a statement.

Democrats urged rejection of the repeals, arguing that Trump’s fossil 
fuel-friendly agenda is driving up energy prices because renewable 
sources are being sidelined even as the tech industry’s power demands 
soar for data centers and other projects.

“We are seeing dramatic increases in the price of energy for American 
consumers and businesses and the slashing of American jobs, so that 
Donald Trump can give an easy pass to the fossil fuel industry,” 
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said Wednesday on the Senate floor.

Last week, the administration canceled almost $8 billion in grants for 
clean energy projects in 16 states that Democratic presidential 
candidate Kamala Harris won in the 2024 election.

Ashley Nunes, public lands specialist at the Center for Biological 
Diversity, an environmental group, said Republicans were unleashing “a 
wholesale assault on America’s public lands.” Using the Congressional 
Review Act to erase land management plans “will sow chaos across the 
country and turn our most cherished places into playgrounds for coal 
barons and industry polluters,” she said.

https://apnews.com/article/public-lands-mining-drilling-restrictions-repealed-571eef997a5f5c092c0eadd620537259