House Backs Bill to Give BLM Stronger Environmental Role

The House approved a bill Monday that seeks to bolster the environmental role of the Bureau of Land Management in its stewardship over 270 million acres of federal land, most of it in the West.

Enactment of the measure, which the House adopted by voice vote, would mark the first formal reauthorization of the BLM by Congress in seven years. The bill now goes to the Senate.

Among the key provisions of the bill is the reinstatement of a congressional mandate that the deputy director, assistant directors and state directors of BLM be nonpolitical, career appointees.

The Ronald Reagan Administration interpreted the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act as allowing those posts to go to political appointees, who, critics charged, largely failed to enforce conservation measures under federal land management statutes.

Technically, the BLM has operated without authorization since 1982, but the Interior Department agency has continued to receive money under a waiver of House rules.

The bill approved Monday was introduced as a reauthorization measure to allow for “such sums as may be necessary for the programs, functions and activities” of the BLM through fiscal 1993.

However, the measure was amended by the Interior Committee to include a series of provisions generally aimed at forcing the BLM to give greater consideration to the environment in the management of public land and its natural resources.

The environmental amendments were strongly opposed by Western Republicans on the panel, who argued that they are needless limits on mining, livestock grazing and other legitimate land uses. The amendments also are opposed by the Bush Administration.