Trump nixing conservation rule in favor of drilling and mining on federal lands

The Biden-era Public Lands Rule sought to put conservation and ecosystem restoration on equal footing with drilling and other extractive uses.

The change promised to improve the conservation track record of an agency that protects less of its land from development than the Forest Service , the National Park Service , or the Fish and Wildlife Service .

Republicans denounced the rule, arguing it violated the BLM ’s multiple-use mandate.