WWA
Feb 24, 2026
Let your Representatives know you do not support this thinly veiled attempt to take public lands out of public hands.
FEBRUARY 23, 2026 - Last week, Senate Joint Resolution 0001: “State management - Federal mineral leases” (SJ0001) passed through the Wyoming State Senate and is now being considered by the House. This Resolution is a thinly veiled attempt to take public lands out of public hands as it directs the federal government to allow Wyoming to manage federal oil and gas leasing.
Proponents of the bill have repeatedly and openly expressed their desire to transfer public lands to the state or to private hands, and see SJ0001 as a potential demonstration of state management and a step in the direction of selling off federal lands and minerals.
WWA has voiced its opposition to SJ0001 in public testimony, but we need your help defeating this attack on our Wyoming public lands. Call your State House Representative and ask that they vote “NO” on SJ0001.
When you call, consider these talking points:
SJ0001 is a trojan horse, a path for state management of federal minerals leading to the sell-off of public lands, which people in Wyoming don't want. We want to keep public lands in public hands.
If implemented, this resolution would require Wyoming to administer a program that the federal government is already running efficiently, needlessly draining our state’s limited resources.
Wyoming would take on all the compliance issues and would have to stand up a significant and costly new leasing program, as federal lands would still be under the jurisdiction of federal laws including environmental review and adherence to the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts.
Passing this resolution does not give Wyoming the right to alter existing management plans for Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or US Forest Service lands. The state would have to abide by existing plans.
Quarterly lease sales of federal minerals are already running smoothly under the BLM. If a nominated parcel does not receive a bid, it is put back up in a fifth, final annual auction. Last year only 20% of leases received bids in the final auction. Energy companies are already getting everything they want.
Help us block this subversive resolution that seeks to gain state control of federal minerals and, ultimately, public landscapes. Call your State House Legislators TODAY to let them know you oppose SJ0001.