October 30, 2023- BRC is challenging the decision to close these routes through an administrative appeal. BRC initiated our challenge with the filing of a notice of administrative appeal with the Interior Board of Land Appeals, in conjunction with a motion to stay the closures while the appeal is pending. The challenge alleges that the closures violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Dingell Act, and the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, in addition to being arbitrary and capricious.
“These closures are part of an ongoing effort to close the vast American West, where the federal government is the largest landowner,” said lead attorney Matt Miller, a senior attorney at the Center for the American Future at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, which represents the plaintiffs in this case. “Every American shares in the ownership of our public lands, which exist for the responsible enjoyment of anyone who wants to recreate on them. BLM is trying to move use of these lands from the rights-based system that has endured for decades to a permission-based system that allows bureaucrats to close these lands to serve their policy preferences.”