Key Takeaways
- •S.90, the Historic Roadways Protection Act, and S.446, prohibiting wilderness designation in Big Cypress National Preserve, both passed out of committee on roll call votes.
- •Senator Heinrich (D-NM) argued S.90 would indefinitely halt agency actions on 36,000 miles of road claims, preventing necessary land management and increasing wildfire risk.
- •Senator Lee (R-UT) asserted S.90 protects historic access by pausing federal road closures until courts adjudicate ownership, while Senator Heinrich (D-NM) called it an indefinite halt.
- •Republicans voted to advance S.90 and S.446, while Democrats opposed both, citing concerns about land management authority and setting problematic precedents for future designations.
- •Senator Padilla (D-CA) stated he would withhold consent for House Republican bills in the Senate until the House passes and the White House signs Senate Democratic bills.
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Hearing Analysis
Overview
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee met on February 4, 2026, to consider a slate of 12 bills addressing federal land management, national park safety, and wildfire prevention. Chaired by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the business meeting focused heavily on the adjudication of historic roadway claims and the management of wilderness designations. While the committee successfully reported several bipartisan measures, the proceedings were marked by sharp disagreements over the balance between local access and environmental conservation, as well as procedural frustrations regarding the movement of legislation between the House and Senate.
The primary focus of the hearing was S. 90, the Historic Roadways Protection Act, introduced by Chairman Lee. The bill addresses Revised Statute 2477 (RS 2477), an 1866 law that allowed for the construction of highways across public lands. Although repealed in 1976, the law preserved existing rights-of-way. Sen. Lee argued that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has been aggressively closing roads in Utah—specifically citing a travel management plan near Moab that closed 300 miles of roads—before courts can finalize ownership claims. He highlighted a recent U.S. District Court ruling by Judge Waddoups granting title to the State of Utah and Kane County for historic routes like House Rock Valley Road. S. 90 proposes a moratorium on federal road closures until RS 2477 claims are fully adjudicated in court.
Ranking Member Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) led the opposition to S. 90, arguing that the bill would effectively paralyze federal land management. He noted that there are over 12,000 individual claims totaling nearly 36,000 miles of roadway in Utah alone. Sen. Heinrich contended that waiting for court adjudication on such a massive scale would take decades, preventing the BLM from managing habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and wildfire risks. He emphasized that 95% of human-caused wildfires begin within a half-mile of a road. Despite these objections, the committee reported S. 90 favorably by a roll call vote of 11-9.
The committee also debated S. 446, a bill introduced by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) to prohibit wilderness designations within the Big Cypress National Preserve. Sen. Lee supported the measure, stating it was requested by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians to protect traditional uses such as hunting and cattle grazing. Sen. Heinrich opposed the bill on precedential grounds, arguing that an outright ban on wilderness identification interferes with the National Park Service’s (NPS) statutory planning authorities under the Wilderness Act. He noted that while he respects tribal access, the bill is "unworkable" because one Congress cannot bind the legislative authority of a future Congress. S. 446 was also reported favorably by an 11-9 vote.
Policy Proposals
Several other bills were reported via voice vote en bloc, including: - S. 2881, the Making Parks Safer Act, introduced by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), which directs the Department of the Interior to upgrade NPS 9-1-1 call centers with next-generation technology. - S. 91, the Western Wildfire Support Act of 2025, sponsored by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), aimed at reducing costs for local fire departments. - S. 1516, the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program Amendment Act, which creates an interest-bearing account for non-federal conservation contributions. - S. 1518, the Otay Mountain Land Exchange Act, authorizing a land swap between the NPS and the U.S. Forest Service.
Overview
Beyond the specific legislation, the hearing highlighted significant partisan friction regarding the broader legislative process. Sen. Heinrich expressed disappointment that the agenda lacked "conservation bills," such as those designating wilderness in Colorado or expanding parks in California. Sen. Padilla (D-CA) voiced a more pointed grievance, stating he would withhold consent for House Republican-led bills until the House begins advancing Senate Democratic priorities. He criticized the current "status quo," noting that President Biden had recently vetoed two land bills led by House Republicans. Sen. Lee responded by defending the House's use of the "suspension of the rules" process, which requires a two-thirds bipartisan majority, and urged a lifting of the "logjam" on non-controversial bills.
Specific organizations and agencies discussed during the hearing included the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the National Park Service (NPS), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians, and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Mention was also made of Grand County, Utah, in relation to S. 1321, a land transfer bill where Sen. Heinrich requested further technical amendments regarding DOE groundwater remediation standards.
The meeting concluded with the adoption of several technical amendments and the reporting of the approved bills to the full Senate. While the committee demonstrated a capacity for bipartisan cooperation on technical land transfers and park safety, the fundamental divide over the "Historic Roadways Protection Act" and the procedural standoff between the chambers suggest continued challenges for federal land policy in the current session.
Transcript
[Gavel sounds.] Good morning. Committee will come to order. Before giving my opening statement, I want to let members know how we'll proceed this morning. I thank Senator Heinrich and his staff for working with us on today's markup. The purpose of today's business meeting is to consider pending legislation that was listed on the agenda that the committee sent to each of your offices on Friday, January 30. As soon as we have a reporting quorum present, I'll ask the committee to vote on those 12 items that were included in the notice last Friday. We'll begin by amending a handful of bills, followed by roll call votes on two bills, and then a voice vote en bloc to report the remaining bills as amended. After the votes, I'll recognize any member who'd like to speak on behalf of any of the items on which we have voted. The bills we consider today include priorities for both Republican members of the committee and also Democrats. They include protecting America's historic roadways, maintaining access to federal lands, and important legislation to address western wildfires. So I'd like to spend a few minutes discussing one of my bills on today's agenda, the Historic Roadways Protection Act. Utah is home to some of the most extraordinary public lands in the country. Many of the roads that still exist on those landscapes were built long before modern federal land management systems existed. The roads were established under a law passed in 1866, known as RS 2477. This was a law that was developed in order to encourage settlement of the western United States. When Congress repealed the statute in 1976, it did not erase those roads. In other words, it repealed RS 2477 non-retroactively, preserving valid existing rights-of-way in existence as of the moment of the law's enactment. It explicitly preserved them, and so they remain valid today. Yet in recent years, we've seen federal travel management plans sometimes close roads that likely do not belong to the federal government at all. So they're closing something that is not theirs to close. In one area near Moab, a single travel management plan closed more than 300 miles of roads. Of those, over a third are claimed as RS 2477 rights-of-way. So the question is not settled. It's being litigated. Now, Utah's counties, under Utah law, those roads are jointly owned by the state and county governments in which the in the counties in which the roads may be found. And the counties in Utah have filed over 12,500 claims, and final decisions are still pending. Utah's winning a lot of those. Last year, Judge Waddoups of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah granted the State of Utah and Kane County title to a number of RS 2477 rights-of-way. Titles to roads like the House Rock Valley Road, the main vein for access to dozens of world-class trails and sensational geological features, such as the Wave that people from all over the world travel to see. Or Hole-in-the-Rock Road, which runs through remote canyon country, following the route carved by pioneers as they settled the West. Closing these roads would destroy a tangible link for Utahns to their history and their ancestors who cut through difficult country to establish communities that they now call home. The problem is that the Bureau of Land Management is moving faster than the courts. The Bureau is closing roads faster than the courts can adjudicate these road claims within my state, and that's backwards. The Historic Roadways Protection Act simply says this: until the courts determine who owns the roads, the federal government may not permanently close them. It does not decide ownership. It does not resolve the lawsuits. It doesn't pick winners and losers. Instead, it would prevent funds from being used to finalize or implement certain management plans until these RS 2477 claims are fully adjudicated. That pause protects historic roadways. It protects local communities' access to hunting and fishing, farmland, scenic and rural preservation, water infrastructure, emergency response routes, and essential services. When these roads are closed or destroyed, communities are cut off. Response times for first responders increase. Everyday life becomes harder. And once those roads are gone, they rarely come back. So if the federal government turns out to have authority and full ownership over a road, it can manage and do so in accordance with law. But if it doesn't, it should not act as if it did. Because once an historic road is closed, the damage is often irreversible. The chair now recognizes ranking member Senator Heinrich.
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