Termination of the Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Miles City Field Office, Montana, and an Associated Environmental Assessment
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is announcing the termination of the land use planning process described in the notice of intent (NOI) published in the Federal Register on J...
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is announcing the termination of the land use planning process described in the notice of intent (NOI) published in the
Federal Register
on July 8, 2025, for the Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Miles City Resource Management Plan.
( printed page 33734)
DATES:
The land use planning process described in the NOI is discontinued as of the date of publication of this notice in the
Federal Register
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Irma Nansel, Planning and Environmental Coordinator, Miles City Field Office, telephone: (406) 233-3653; email:
inansel@blm.gov;
address: 111 Garryowen Road, Miles City, MT 59301. Individuals in the United States who are deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting Ms. Nansel. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as well as 43 CFR 1610.2(c), the BLM on July 8, 2025, published an NOI in the
Federal Register
announcing that it planned to prepare an EA, and have a concurrent public-scoping period, on the proposed analysis (90 FR 30092). To preserve agency resources, and in consideration of subsequent legislative and Secretarial actions, the BLM is now discontinuing this planning and NEPA process.
On December 11, 2025, in accordance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA), 5 U.S.C. 801-808, the President signed a joint resolution into law disapproving the November 2024 Miles City Field Office Resource Management Plan Amendment. Public Law 119-48. A rule nullified under the CRA must be treated as though it never took effect. As such, the 2024 RMP Amendment, including the coal-allocation decision the BLM announced as a preliminary alternative in the NOI, should be treated as though it never took effect and the 2015 Miles City Field Office Resource Management Plan, as amended in January 2021 and as otherwise amended, except as by the disapproved amendment, is now in effect for the Miles City Planning Area.
The BLM has also maintained the 2015 Miles City Field Office Resource Management Plan, as amended in January 2021, to reflect the Secretary of the Interior's action pursuant to section 50203 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) (Pub. L. 119-21 (2025)). See 90 FR 47813 (Oct. 2, 2025). The Secretary of the Interior implemented section 50203 of the OBBB by, in part, making 6,859,330 BLM-administered coal acres available for further consideration for coal leasing in the Miles City Field Office. The acreage made available in the 2021 Record of Decision/Approved RMP Amendment was maintained with the acres made available pursuant to section 50203 of the OBBB, resulting in an allocation of 6,989,390 BLM-administered coal acres available for further consideration for leasing.
While the BLM does not intend to issue a Proposed Plan Amendment/Final EA or a Decision Record for this planning process, it will continue to work with cooperating agencies and stakeholders in the implementation of the existing land use plans.
Use this for formal legal and research references to the published document.
91 FR 33733
Web Citation
Suggested Web Citation
Use this when citing the archival web version of the document.
“Termination of the Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Miles City Field Office, Montana, and an Associated Environmental Assessment,” thefederalregister.org (June 4, 2026), https://thefederalregister.org/documents/2026-11149/termination-of-the-resource-management-plan-amendment-for-the-miles-city-field-office-montana-and-an-associated-environm.