STOP HR 6939 FROM BECOMING LAW

On September 27, 2018, Representative Cheney introduced HR 6939, the poorly named “Restoring Local Input and Access to Public Lands Act.” This week, the House Committee on Natural Resources voted to move Rep. Liz Cheney's HR 6939 forward on a 19-11 vote. The bill was drafted without a single public meeting and threatens over four million of acres of wildlands in Wyoming. The result would be the largest rollback of public land protection in Wyoming history, opening up BLM and National Forest roadless areas to drilling, mining, and off-road vehicles—all without a single hearing to take input from the public.

The legislation would:
• Strip protections from nearly 400,000 acres of wilderness study areas (WSAs) that have been protected for decades, including crown jewel landscapes in the spectacular Red Desert like Adobe Town, the Honeycomb Buttes, and the Boar’s Tusk.
• Remove existing protections from 3.3 million acres of roadless lands and 700,000 acres of wilderness- quality BLM lands.
• Overturn key pieces of environmental laws including the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the National Forest Management Act, and the national Roadless Rule.
• Prohibit the BLM and Forest Service from surveying for wilderness values in the future on 27 million acres of public lands.