Sen. Lummis with Wyoming coal miners from the NTEC Antelope Mine.

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and 11 Senate Western Caucus members sent a letter to Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum voicing the caucus’ support for the proposed rescission of the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, commonly referred to as the Public Lands Rule.

“The so-called Public Lands Rule was a brazen attempt by the Biden administration to undermine the multiple-use mandate that has governed our public lands for decades,” the release said. “By illegally adding ‘conservation’ as a land-use designation without congressional authorization, this rule threatened to lock up millions of acres of federal land from the multiple-use mandate. This misguided Biden rule seeks to close off our public lands from recreational access, energy development, livestock grazing, and other activities that western communities depend on.

“Our constituents live with and rely on the use of Federal lands every day. These lands are not abstract reserves to be locked away, but working landscapes that provide food, energy, recreation, and cultural heritage,” the senators wrote. “The Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, or Public Lands Rule, (88 Fed. Reg. 19583) attempted to upend this equilibrium by elevating ‘conservation’ to a standalone use of Federal lands — placing it on par with, and in practice above, traditional productive uses such as grazing, mineral development, timber harvest, and recreation. That is not just legally dubious — it is devastating for the West.”

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., was also among 10 senators signing the letter.