Heinrich, Huffman Demand Transparency on Trump Administration’s Plan to Roll Back Protections for Americans’ Public Lands After Interior Fails to Disclose it to the Public, Despite Key Deadline

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee, wrote to Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum demanding transparency on the status of an “action plan” to suspend, revise, or rescind protections for American’s public lands.

The letter from the lawmakers comes one week after the Department neglected to publicly disclose their plan to implement President Trump’s energy and public lands policy priorities and describe the “steps that will be taken to suspend, revise, or rescind” a laundry list of rules and orders, including national monuments and mineral withdrawals protecting communities, lands, and waters from oil and gas extraction or hardrock mining.

“One week after [that] deadline, that action plan remains undisclosed to the public and Congress,” Heinrich and Huffman wrote. “This delay suggests an attempt to evade Congressional oversight, public scrutiny, and accountability, fueling concerns that the Administration is moving to undermine public land protections and sell our natural resources to the highest bidders in secret. This directly contradicts the Secretarial Order’s own policy direction that includes “guaranteeing that all executive departments and agencies provide opportunity for public comment and rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis.”

The lawmakers continued by requesting the Department provide them with copies of all reports, memoranda, or other documents produced in response to Burgum’s directive – known as a “Secretarial Order” – and Trump’s Executive Order that threatens Americans’ public lands, “As the ranking minority members on the committees of jurisdiction for these topics, we have a responsibility to conduct oversight on the Department’s activities. Congress has both the authority and the duty to ensure that executive agencies faithfully execute the laws and operate in a manner consistent with congressional intent and the public interest. Congressional oversight includes reviewing, monitoring, and supervising federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. To that end, please provide us with copies of all reports, memoranda, or other documents produced in response to S.O. 3418 or E.O. 14154.”

Because there are currently no Senate-confirmed assistant secretaries in the Department, the lawmakers additionally requested names and titles of the officials conducting the review, as well as the names and titles of those responsible for final decisions regarding which conservation protections to eliminate.

“The American people deserve a full accounting of these sweeping policy changes and we have an obligation to ensure that this issue is brought to light. We look forward to hearing from you on this critical matter,” the lawmakers concluded. 

The full letter can be found HERE and below: 

Dear Secretary Burgum:

On February 3, 2025, you issued Secretarial Order 3418 (S.O.) to implement provisions in President Trump’s Executive Order “Unleashing American Energy” (E.O. 14154). That E.O. directed all relevant agencies to prioritize energy development on public lands and waters above all other uses. It ordered a wholesale roll-back of policies, plans, and protections for public lands. These protections were put into place after years of public process, science-based analysis, and deliberation to protect sacred sites, land, waters, people, our heritage, and American taxpayers.

The S.O. directs assistant secretaries within the Department to review agency policies, including administrative withdrawals and national monuments, and within 15 days provide an ‘action plan’ to effectuate President Trump’s energy and public lands policy priorities and describe the “steps that, as appropriate, will be taken to suspend, revise, or rescind” a laundry list of rules and orders, including withdrawals protecting communities, lands and waters from oil and gas extraction or hardrock mining, and all national monuments.

One week after that deadline, that action plan remains undisclosed to the public and Congress. This delay suggests an attempt to evade Congressional oversight, public scrutiny, and accountability, fueling concerns that the Administration is moving to undermine public land protections and sell our natural resources to the highest bidders in secret. This directly contradicts the Secretarial Order’s own policy direction that includes “guaranteeing that all executive departments and agencies provide opportunity for public comment and rigorous, peer-reviewed scientific analysis.”

As the ranking minority members on the committees of jurisdiction for these topics, we have a responsibility to conduct oversight on the Department’s activities. Congress has both the authority and the duty to ensure that executive agencies faithfully execute the laws and operate in a manner consistent with congressional intent and the public interest. Congressional oversight includes reviewing, monitoring, and supervising federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. To that end, please provide us with copies of all reports, memoranda, or other documents produced in response to S.O. 3418 or E.O. 14154.

In addition, because there are no Senate-confirmed assistant secretaries in the Department at this time, we must insist on full disclosure of the names and titles of the officials conducting this review, as well as the names and titles of those responsible for final decisions regarding which conservation protections to eliminate.

The American people deserve a full accounting of these sweeping policy changes and we have an obligation to ensure that this issue is brought to light. We look forward to hearing from you on this critical matter.

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