Project 2025
Project 2025, developed by the Heritage Foundation, outlines an extensive plan to reshape the management of U.S. public lands, prioritizing fossil fuel extraction and reducing environmental protections. Key components of the plan include:
Expansion of Resource Extraction
Increased Oil and Gas Leasing: The plan advocates for reinstating quarterly onshore lease sales in all producing states and maximizing offshore oil and natural gas lease sales. It also calls for opening large portions of Alaska, including the Alaska Coastal Plain and most of the National Petroleum Reserve, to oil and gas exploration and development.
Coal Program Revival: Project 2025 recommends halting the ongoing review of the federal coal-leasing program and working with congressional delegations and governors of Wyoming and Montana to restart the program immediately.
Expansion of Mining Operations: The plan seeks to restore mining claims and oil and gas leases in areas like the Thompson Divide of the White River National Forest in Colorado and the 10-mile buffer around Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico.
Reduction of Environmental Protections
Weakening NEPA: Project 2025 aims to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act by restoring Trump-era changes that set time limits for reviews, allowed agencies to skip some reviews altogether, and eliminated any consideration of a project's climate impacts.
Targeting National Monuments: The plan includes reviewing national monument designations with an eye to reducing their size and seeks the repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which allows presidents to designate national monuments.
Agency Restructuring
Relocation of BLM Headquarters: Project 2025 proposes moving the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) headquarters back to Grand Junction, Colorado, a move previously criticized for causing confusion and inefficiency.
Political Oversight of Law Enforcement: The plan suggests placing BLM law enforcement officers under the direct supervision of political appointees rather than the agency's state directors, potentially undermining the agency's ability to enforce its own regulations.
Implementation of Schedule F: Project 2025 recommends reinstating Schedule F, a Trump-era executive order that would reclassify certain federal employees, making it easier to hire and fire them based on political loyalty.
Agencies Affected
Bureau of Land Management (BLM): Oversees more than 247 million acres of public lands, primarily in the western U.S., and would be central to implementing increased leasing and reduced environmental oversight.
U.S. Forest Service: Though receiving less attention in the plan, it would be directed to focus on proactive vegetation management, moving away from practices like controlled burns.
Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE): The plan proposes relocating its headquarters to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and reducing the number of field coal-reclamation inspectors.
Project 2025 represents a significant shift in public land management, emphasizing resource extraction and reducing environmental safeguards. These changes will lead to long-term harm to ecosystems, cultural sites, and the climate.