Action Alert: Help Us Oppose S.460 – Supporting Made In America Energy Act

While RMFU supports responsible energy development, we believe this legislation undermines fundamental principles of multi-use land management and threatens the livelihood of ranchers who depend on federal grazing allotments. Furthermore, this bill would harm rural communities and their economies that rely on a balanced approach to public lands management, not just for agriculture but also for tourism, traditional uses, and resource development, including timber, minerals, and water resources.

Our specific concerns include:

Undermining Multiple-Use Management

• The bill’s mandate requiring the Secretary of the Interior to offer all eligible parcels for oil and gas development would severely constrain the agency’s ability to balance competing uses on public lands. This prescriptive approach contradicts the long-established multi-use mandate and will give primacy to energy development over other land uses, negatively impacting rural economic vitality.

Disregarding Local and Stakeholder Priorities

• RMFU advocates for meaningful local input in federal land management decisions. The bill’s rigid requirements for lease sales would circumvent existing decision-making processes and undermine the role of those most directly impacted by these decisions, the local communities, including agricultural producers, in shaping land management decisions.

Threatening Grazing Allotments and Agricultural Viability

• Many family ranches in our three states depend on access to federal grazing allotments for the economic viability of their operations and have served as responsible stewards of these lands for generations. The bill’s prioritization of oil and gas development would jeopardize grazing viability for family operations. We are already seeing conflicts between energy development and livestock grazing activities under the current law, and the passage of this law would allow these conflicts to be dramatically expanded. Sufficient forage, livestock containment, and animal welfare will all be harder to ensure under this new law.

Constraining Agency Discretion and Resource Management

• Federal land management agencies need sufficient flexibility and discretion to manage public lands based on resource monitoring, changing conditions, and local community and economic needs. This bill would severely restrict this discretion and prioritize a single-use approach over the comprehensive approach needed for fair long-term multi-use land management.

We highly encourage you to contact your state senators and ask them to oppose this potentially detrimental bill. For the most impact, please contact Senator John Barrasso (WY), Senator Martin Heinrich (NM), Senator Michael Bennet (CO), and Senator John Hickenlooper (CO), asking them to oppose this bill as they are sitting on the Senate Committee leading this bill.