BLM Conservation Rule Rescission Prevents Agency Overreach to Block Federal Lands Development

May 11, 2026

Washington, D.C. – The American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC) today welcomed the Department of Interior’s rescission of the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM’s) burdensome 2024 Conservation and Landscape Health Rule. This action reverses a clear overreach in agency authority in order to bypass Congress to restrict responsible public resource development.

The 2024 Rule raised serious concerns by inappropriately expanding agency discretion to be able to effectively withdraw lands from traditional uses that had already been designated through rigorous public planning processes, which explicitly incorporate environmental protections, resource stewardship, and multiple-use mandates. As a result, the Rule disregarded those established safeguards and undermined clear congressional intent for the leasing, permitting, and responsible development of federal lands for public benefit.

Anne Bradbury, AXPC CEO, said:

“Through reckless agency overreach, this rule provided a pathway for the previous administration to undermine Congress and restrict federal lands development at the expense of hardworking Americans. AXPC applauds Secretary Burgum for taking a crucial step to secure energy affordability by restoring balanced management of federal lands, including for responsible oil and natural gas development as Congress intended.”

Background:

• AXPC’s 2026 Policy Roadmap called for the Department of Interior to finalize the recission of the 2024 Conservation and Landscape Health Rule.
• Read AXPC’s November 2025 Comment Letter to BLM supporting the proposed recission, which detailed how the 2024 Rule “radically redesigned through regulation the national public lands management framework that Congress selected and only Congress can revise.”