The paper, which was developed by ASL to inform policy makers, states that Congress has directed federal agencies to coordinate their planning processes and management activities with states and local governments, but this rarely happens in practice.
The result is that agencies implement policies that could harm local economies, according to ASL. This includes the Biden Administration’s 30x30 initiative, which was not authorized by Congress. The initiative aims to restrict productive land use in favor of conservation-only uses.
The Bureau of Land Management and the US Forest Service are required to coordinate their land use, inventory, planning, and management activities with local governments under federal law, but they often refuse to do so. Instead, they offer cooperating agency participation under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a law that requires federal agencies to consider the environmental impacts of their actions.
NEPA also requires agencies to involve local governments in decision-making processes. However, it does not fulfill the full federal requirements for coordination and consistency, according to ASL.
The ASL paper recommends a directive be included in the congressional funding bill for the Department of the Interior and Department of Agriculture requiring federal agencies to coordinate with local governments as required under existing laws.
The agencies should work to harmonize their plans with those of the local governments, the paper states.
