Public Comment Period Extended For Bighorn Basin Land-Use Plan

The public comment period for a proposed Bighorn Basin land-use plan has been extended. The Bureau of Land Management extended the comment period do to lack of participation.The BLM extended the public comment period in hopes of receiving more feedback about the proposed land-use plan for Wyoming's Big Horn Basin. The issue at hand is the draft resource management plan. The original comment deadline was for this month but will now conclude in early September.

Energy Conservation groups are glad to hear of the extension and say important issues such as this should not be rushed. The Bighorn Basin is known for its rich amount of natural resources but has been under scrutiny in recent years for oil and gas drilling.

Under the proposed plan management guidelines on energy, recreation and conservation for the next 20 years will be set. The guidelines include 3.2 million surface acres and 4.2 million acres of federal mineral estate.