HJRES 105: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Bureau of Land Management relating to "North Dakota Field Office Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan".

HJRES 105 in plain English: This joint resolution nullifies a Bureau of Land Management rule issued on January 8, 2025, that updated the management plan for BLM-administered lands in North Dakota. The overturned rule had modified a 1988 plan by restricting oil and gas development in certain low-potential areas and limiting new coal leasing.

Stated purpose

This joint resolution aims to nullify a Bureau of Land Management resource management plan for North Dakota, issued in January 2025, that set new rules for how federal lands in the state are managed, including limits on oil and gas development and coal leasing in certain areas.

Key points

• Cancels the BLM's January 8, 2025 Resource Management Plan for the North Dakota Field Office
• Removes restrictions on oil and gas development in low-potential areas established by the 2025 rule
• Eliminates the 2025 rule's limit on new coal leasing to areas within four miles of existing mines
• Reverts North Dakota BLM land management back to the 1988 Resource Management Plan framework

Arguments supporters make

• The 2025 BLM plan placed unnecessary limits on energy development on federal lands in North Dakota, hurting jobs and energy production in the state.
• Returning to the prior management framework respects local economic interests and gives North Dakota communities more opportunity to benefit from natural resources on nearby federal lands.
• Congress has the right under the Congressional Review Act to check federal agency rules it finds overreaching, and this resolution exercises that legitimate oversight role.

Arguments opponents make

• The 2025 resource management plan was developed through a years-long public process to update an outdated 1988 plan, and overturning it ignores that careful work and public input.
• Removing limits on oil and gas development and coal leasing in sensitive or low-potential areas could harm land, water, and wildlife that the updated plan was designed to protect.
• Using the Congressional Review Act to void a resource management plan sets a precedent for Congress to override expert-driven, site-specific land management decisions that agencies are best positioned to make.

Tradeoffs

Reversing the 2025 plan opens more federal land in North Dakota to energy development, which may boost economic activity but removes updated environmental guardrails; the tension is between maximizing resource extraction on federal lands and maintaining more protective land-use standards put in place after a modern review process.

Current status in Congress: Became law.

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