Biden plan to sell land leases for conservation gets pushback

By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — More than a century after the U.S. started selling oil leases on public lands, the Biden administration is seeking to let conservationists lease government property to restore it. The idea is to make conservation “equal” in priority to other uses of public lands such as drilling and livestock grazing. But some Republican lawmakers and agriculture representatives contend the changes are a backdoor to excluding agricultural and energy development from vast areas primarily in the West. Administration officials sought to dispel worries about the pending changes on Monday during a first public meeting on the proposal. They said conservation leases would not lock out other uses of U.S. Bureau of Land Management property.