BLM planning rule will shrink public involvement, reduce land protections

WASHINGTON D.C. (Nov. 9th, 2026) — The Department of the Interior issued a proposed rule for the Bureau of Land Management [PDF] that would reduce public input in the land-use planning process and significantly weaken BLM’s protections for Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), the agency’s designation for lands with natural or cultural significance. The announcement kicks off a 60-day public comment period.  

The proposal comes as Congress debates permitting legislation that would similarly weaken public participation in decisions affecting shared lands and give more power to development interests.   

Among other changes, the administration’s proposed rule cancels the automatic requirement to prepare an environmental impact statement for every land-use plan or plan revision; removes or shortens several public comment periods; cancels the requirement for the BLM to ensure consistency with Tribal plans; halves the “consistency review” period state governors have to examine a proposed plan and ensure it doesn’t conflict with state or local plans or policy; allows the interior secretary to waive or shorten certain public participation and consultation requirements for plan amendments in case of undefined “emergency circumstances; directs the agency to shrink the areas protected with ACEC designations; authorizes shrinking or eliminating existing ACEC designations; and removes the provision for designating areas as unsuitable for surface mining. 

Michael Carroll, director of BLM campaigns at The Wilderness Society, made the following statement about the proposed rule: 

“Public lands belong to all Americans, and decisions about their future should be made through transparent processes informed by science, meaningful public participation and consultation with Tribes and others in the community. This proposed rule would give us less of a say in the management of 245 million acres of our shared lands and weaken areas of critical environmental concern, the BLM’s primary tool for protecting important natural and cultural sites. It is another clear attempt to give drilling, mining and other development interests more influence over our public lands, in the same spirit as rescission of the BLM Public Lands Rule—and only days after voters delivered a stinging rebuke to this administration’s agenda of doing favors for oil and gas companies and other powerful corporations. Our public lands deserve better, and so do future generations that will inherit them.” 

Contact: mgreenberg@tws.org | newsmedia@tws.org