HJRES-130 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to "Buffalo Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment".

This bill became law on 2025-12-11 as Public Law No. 119-51.

The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.

YourVoice.Now Summary

EnvironmentCorporate BenefitsTransparency & Accountability

Cancels a 2024 plan that had put 481,000 acres of Wyoming federal coal off-limits — leasing can resume.

Environment

Federal coal open to leasing — 481,000 Wyoming acres reopened

A 2024 land plan had closed about 481,000 acres of federal coal to new leases. The land sits in northeast Wyoming. That closure is now gone, so the coal can be leased again.

Land agency's power to block this coal — new law needed

Once Congress cancels a rule, the agency cannot bring back one much like it. So the Bureau of Land Management would need a new law to close this coal again.

Corporate Benefits

Coal companies' access to federal coal — about 48 billion tons

The cancelled plan had taken about 48 billion short tons of federal coal off the table for future leases. Coal companies can bid on leases in this part of Wyoming again.

Transparency & Accountability

Congressional review of federal land plans — now treated like agency rules

Congress has a fast-track way to cancel agency rules. In September 2025 the GAO, its watchdog, said this land plan counts as a rule. That same path could now reach other land plans.

More about this bill

Most people see no change in daily life. Congress has cancelled a 2024 federal land plan for northeast Wyoming. That plan had closed about 481,000 acres of government-owned coal to new mining leases. Roughly 48 billion tons of coal can now be leased again. Congress used the Congressional Review Act, a fast-track power to undo agency rules. Under that law, the Bureau of Land Management cannot close this coal again in nearly the same way. It would first need a new law from Congress. The change took effect on December 11, 2025. What happens next depends on future lease sales, not on anything immediate.

Congressional Summary

This joint resolution nullifies the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on November 20, 2024, which amended the 2015 resource management plan (RMP) for the Buffalo Field Office in Wyoming to make no federal coal available for future leasing. Thus, the joint resolution requires the BLM to follow the 2015 RMP as it was before it was amended in 2024 and make coal available for leasing.By way of background, the BLM developed the amendment to the plan in response to Western Organization of Resource Councils v. Bureau of Land Management. In that case, the court held that the BLM must evaluate the climate impacts of federal coal leasing in the Buffalo Field Office and include alternatives to limit or stop coal leasing in the evaluation in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. After conducting the evaluation, the BLM amended the RMP and made BLM-managed coal resources in the Buffalo Field Office planning area unavailable for future leasing.

Legislative Subjects

Administrative law and regulatory proceduresCoalCongressional oversightDepartment of the InteriorMiningWyoming

Details

Congress: 119th
Chamber: House
Status: summarized
Action: Became Public Law No: 119-51.
Action Date: 2025-12-11
Date Added: 2026-04-10
Source: Congress.gov →

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