ROCK SPRINGS (WNE) — During a visit to speak with the students participating in the speech and debate tournament at Rock Springs High School on Saturday, March 2, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) sat down with the Rocket Miner to discuss how the Resource Management Plan will affect the community.

The RMP was released on Aug. 17, 2023, by the Bureau of Land Management. It outlines the management of around 3.6 million acres of public lands, as well as 3.7 million acres of federal mineral estate in southwest Wyoming.

“It is disgraceful what this administration is trying to do. They’re trying to strong arm a process by putting extremely liberal people in positions of government to come out with things like this,” Barrasso said. “This is part of their effort to shut down American energy production. The decisions that they are making are bad for our community, our state, our country, our national security.”

He added that energy security is national security.

“All of the sudden, they say, ‘Oh, you can’t use it here from Wyoming.’”

Job security has also been a factor people have looked at concerning the RMP.

“And the jobs, you’re talking about 3,000 potential jobs being lost because of a president who is taking his energy advice from a 25-year-old TikTok influencer on social media who came to the White House,” Barrasso emphasized. “Even the New York Times has written about this.

“That tells you how bad this is; that the president isn’t thinking about what’s in the best interest of the country. He’s thinking about trying to get re-elected by appealing to his liberal, elitist folks on the coast, who don’t know or understand Wyoming.”

“Also, they’ve never been here,” Barrasso added. “They don’t understand public lands and don’t understand that BLM stands for the Bureau of Land Management.”