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Committee witness criticizes Interior Secretary Haaland over land-access decisions and lease-sale declines
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Summary
An unnamed committee member at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing accused Interior Secretary Haaland of being unaware of a major Wyoming land plan, of failing to meet Mineral Leasing Act expectations for quarterly lease sales, and of issuing rules and restrictions that the speaker said would limit energy and mineral access in the West.
An unnamed participant in a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing sharply criticized Department of the Interior policies on federal land use, saying they threaten energy and grazing access in the West and harm Wyomingcommunities.
The speaker said than (sic) the Department of the Interior has a "profound impact" on Wyoming because nearly half of the state's land is federally owned and "nearly 70% of the minerals under that land is on is owned by the federal government." The speaker urged the committee to hold the secretary accountable, saying, "The secretary testified, no," when Representative Harriet Hageman asked in a House hearing whether she was familiar with the Rock Springs resource management plan. The speaker described that plan as the department's proposal to block access to 3,700,000 acres of public lands in southwest Wyoming, saying it would "severely restrict energy and mineral development, restrict grazing, and restrict recreation activities."
The speaker also accused Secretary Haaland of failing to follow the Mineral Leasing Act requirement for quarterly lease sales in each state with oil and gas resources. According to the speaker, in the first 10 quarters of Haaland's tenure the department held only two lease sales and later added three more, a shortfall the speaker said has not been remedied. The speaker offered numerical comparisons: that the department leased an average of more than 2,300,000 acres per year from fiscal years 2001 through 2021, versus an average of 83,000 acres per year in 2022'2 and 2023 under Haaland, which the speaker characterized as a roughly 96% drop. They said average annual leases fell from about 2,000 to 132, a 93% drop. These figures are presented as the speakercredited them in the hearing; committee records should be consulted to verify official DOI statistics.
The speaker further criticized a recently issued Department of the Interior rule described in the hearing as the "public lands rule," saying it "turns the multiple use mandate . . . on its head" by equating nonuse with "productive use" and that it could allow activists to block grazing, energy and mineral production, timber harvesting and recreation. The speaker also said the secretary recently "prohibited oil and natural gas production in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska" and announced plans to "block access to the Ambler Mining District," a large mineral area the speaker described as rich in copper, cobalt and zinc.
The speaker framed these moves as both unlawful and inconsistent with congressional intent and warned that, in their view, if the policies "are allowed to stand, the people of the West are gonna suffer in the years to come." The remarks included repeated direct accusations that the secretary has acted "in spite of the law." The hearing transcript shows no response to those accusations within the provided segment.
The speaker closed by reiterating that Americans deserve leaders who "uphold and honor the laws enacted by Congress" and thanked the chairman and another person identified as Sandra before ending their remarks.
No formal motions or votes are recorded in the supplied transcript portion.
