Five of the nation’s top natural gas and oil trade groups are rejecting calls to overhaul how Lower 48 land is leased for energy development by pairing it with conservation concerns.

The Conservation and Landscape Health Rule (CLH) proposal by the Biden administration would allow the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to “protect intact landscapes, restore degraded habitat, and make wise management decisions based on science and data,” according to the proposal.  

BLM manages 245 million acres of public land, mostly in western states. The proposal comes as the Interior Department agency “is more and more challenged to balance multiple use and sustained yield in the face of a changing climate, as well as increasing degradation and fragmentation of public lands,” BLM...