S.J. Res. 89 · On the floor · Public Lands and Natural Resources

A joint resolution 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: Cynthia M. Lummis (R-WY)

What it does

• Nullifies the Bureau of Land Management rule of November 20, 2024, amending the 2015 resource management plan for the Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming to make no federal coal available for future leasing.
• Requires BLM to follow the 2015 plan as it stood before the amendment and make coal available for leasing.
• Reverses an amendment BLM adopted after a court held in Western Organization of Resource Councils v. BLM that it must evaluate climate impacts of coal leasing and consider limiting or ending it.
• Was indefinitely postponed by the Senate by unanimous consent.

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

Nov 20, 2025: Indefinitely postponed by Senate by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8395)

Committee: Senate Energy and Natural Resources