Congress is nullifying resource management plans

Congress is moving to nullify land resource management plans that have guided federal policy by using a bill never applied in such a manner. If passed into law, the decision to nullify these plans could create uncertainty for communities, wildlife and industries relying on those lands.

Since its passage in 1996, the Congressional Review Act (CRA) has allowed Congress to overturn rules that federal agencies created. Both the Senate and House of Representatives need to vote to overturn the rule within 60 congressional days of the rule’s publication.

So far, the CRA has not been applied to federal land management plans. However, this changed in June 2025, when the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report in response to the BLM’s Miles City Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Plan Amendment.

The GAO’s report stated that the Miles City Resource Management Plan (RMP) amendment can be subject to the CRA, even though RMPs have previously been exempt from the CRA. Congress, via a series of joint resolutions, then voted to nullify three Bureau of Land Management resource management plans through the CRA:

1. Miles City Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment (H.J.Res. 104)
2. North Dakota Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan (H.J.Res. 105)
3. Central Yukon Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan (H.J.Res. 106)

Land management plans decide what can happen, where and how on public lands, representing a balance of uses, access and protection. Changes to land management plans can reshape what resources are protected, what activities (e.g. mineral extraction, cattle grazing, energy infrastructure development, recreational access) are permitted, and how ecosystems are managed. If the joint resolutions are passed into law, the BLM must revert to managing the affected lands using older RMPs. Some of these previous plans are more than 30 years old.

Collectively, the updated RMPs addressed issues such as mineral extraction, specifically coal, sensitive wildlife habitat and subsistence of Indigenous groups. The Central Yukon RMP was developed with significant collaboration from 20 Tribes. Indigenous knowledge, data and research were central to shaping a plan aimed at protecting the land and preserving natural resources, sparking reported concern and frustration from those involved.

Under the CRA, Congress can only approve or reject a rule in full and cannot modify it. Additionally, the administrating agency is barred from issuing “substantially the same” rules in the future without new legislative authorization. There is little guidance on what “substantially the same” means in practice. This approach could significantly constrain BLM’s ability to modernize land management and limit their flexibility for addressing future resource management challenges.