NE Wyoming News

On Friday, Congresswoman Harriet Hageman, along with Western Caucus Chairman Dan Newhouse (WA-04) and nine other Congressional colleagues, sent a letter to BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning regarding the Biden-Harris administration’s “Western Solar Plan.” On August 29th, the BLM announced its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) for this plan. According to the administration, the plan aims to support the renewable energy industry by subsidizing energy sources.

Representative Hageman expressed concerns about the impact of the plan: “The BLM’s ‘Western Solar Plan’ will adversely impact 31 million acres of federal lands across 11 states and upend existing activities that drive America’s energy independence, thus weakening the resilience of the American energy grid and propping up unreliable energy sources, while simultaneously stripping local communities of important revenue-generating activities. This proposal will severely impact Wyoming, as half of our state’s surface lands are federally managed.”

Hageman further criticized the plan's environmental implications: “The ‘Plan’ blocks off large swaths of lands for the installation of environmentally unfriendly solar panels, eliminating the ability to graze, mine, or produce fossil fuels – all the things that America needs to drive down costs of energy, food, and housing. The Biden-Harris assault on our Western way of life needs to be brought to a swift end this November before they can inflict even more damage.”

Chairman Newhouse also voiced his opposition: “The proposed Western Solar Plan is another Biden-Harris Administration policy that is detrimental to communities across the West. This plan risks violating the multiple-use mandate for public lands established by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and threatens valuable grazing lands while also elevating intermittent energy over more affordable and reliable sources. I’m proud to join Representative Hageman and my colleagues in asking BLM to withdraw this misguided proposal and prioritize an all-of-the-above energy approach to unleash the full energy potential of the American west.”