BLM briefs Wyoming committee on Rock Springs RMP review; public scoping expected next month

Chris Kirby, acting state director for BLM Wyoming, told the Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee on June 19 that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has begun a targeted review of the Rock Springs Field Office Resource Management Plan (RMP) focused on special management designations that the agency believes most affect mineral development.

“The BLM signed the record of decision and the approved resource management plan for the Rock Springs field office on 12/20/2024,” Chris Kirby said in his opening remarks. He told the committee that the RMP “is currently under the new plan, which has been operating,” and stressed that the record of decision (ROD) remains in force. “All valid existing rights prior to December 20 were carried through into the new record of decision,” Kirby said.

Kirby and Kimberly Foster, field manager for the BLM Rock Springs office, told lawmakers the RMP is not preventing mineral development in the field office. Kirby reported the office has issued 27 approved permits to drill (APDs) since January and is on track for nearly 50 this calendar year, “which is more than the last couple of years.” The BLM also recently signed a decision record for a Dry Creek trona mine and is processing other mine expansion proposals.

Agency officials described the direction from the Secretary of the Interior and the president’s executive order as the reason for the focused review. Kirby said Secretary’s Order 3418 (issued 02/03/2025) and Executive Order 14154 directed the BLM to “review and revise where appropriate” the Rock Springs RMP. As a result, BLM staff have identified a trend: special management designations — areas of critical environmental concern (ACEC), special recreation management areas (SRMAs), National Historic Trail corridors and wilderness study areas (WSAs) — are the designations most likely to constrain mineral development.

Foster told the committee the Rock Springs RMP currently contains 12 ACECs, five special recreation management areas, a National Historic Trail corridor, and 13 wilderness study areas. The BLM’s planning timeline presented to the committee envisions public scoping opening for 30 days (with at least one public meeting) in the coming month, a draft environmental assessment for 30 days of comment, and a projected target for completing the amendment process by March 2026. Kirby said the agency currently anticipates a finding of no significant impact (FONSI) and that the agency will use an environmental assessment (EA) unless scoping raises issues that require an environmental impact statement (EIS).

BLM advised the committee that after a final EA the process includes a 30-day protest period and a 60-day governor’s consistency review. Kirby and Purdy said the agency has met cooperating agencies in advance of scoping and will brief cooperating agencies on draft documents before public release. They also said the agency will work with the U.S. Geological Survey and the state of Wyoming to update reasonably foreseeable development scenarios that will feed the analysis.

Committee members pressed BLM staff on how durable any amendment would be across administrations. “Our goal is to come up with a durable decision that will kind of survive different administration changes,” Kirby replied, saying any EA would be an amendment to the ROD and the agency would aim for a balanced alternative. Committee members also asked about the history and status of the 13 wilderness study areas in the Rock Springs field office; Foster said those recommendations date to the 1991 inventory and remain managed as WSAs until Congress acts.

BLM officials agreed to provide links to publicly available documents the committee requested, including the Rock Springs reasonable foreseeable development report and related analyses, and to stay after the hearing for public comment. The committee included several follow-up requests from members about maps, mineral data sources and prior legislative work on WSAs.