H.J. Res. 130 · Signed into law · Public Lands and Natural Resources

Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to Buffalo Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment.

Sponsor: Harriet M. Hageman (R-WY)

What it does

• Nullifies the BLM's November 2024 rule amending the Buffalo Field Office resource management plan that had restricted federal coal leasing.
• Requires the BLM to revert to the 2015 resource management plan and make BLM-managed coal resources in the Buffalo Field Office planning area available for future leasing.
• Overrides the BLM's climate impact assessment and eliminates the alternative to limit or stop coal leasing that the bureau had adopted in response to court-mandated environmental review.

Official summary

This joint resolution nullifies the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on November 20, 2024, which amended the 2015 resource management plan (RMP) for the Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming to make no federal coal available for future leasing. Thus, the joint resolution requires the BLM to follow the 2015 RMP as it was before it was amended in 2024 and make coal available for leasing. By way of background, the BLM developed the amendment to the plan in response to Western Organization of Resource Councils v. Bureau of Land Management. In that case, the court held that the BLM must evaluate the climate impacts of federal coal leasing in the Buffalo Field Office and include alternatives to limit or stop coal leasing in the evaluation in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. After conducting the evaluation, the BLM amended the RMP and made BLM-managed coal resources in the Buffalo Field Office planning area unavailable for future leasing.

Latest action

Dec 11, 2025: Became Public Law No: 119-51.

Committee: House Natural Resources