The Dakota Scout: Biden’s backdoor land grab deserves congressional reversal
In the last few days of 2024, the Biden administration quietly released Public Land Order 7956 — an administrative maneuver that halted mineral development across more than 20,000 acres in western South Dakota. The move immediately blocked F3 Gold’s mineral exploration plans, even though the company had secured a lawful permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in good faith to obtain that permit. What the Biden right hand gave, the left hand took away.
F3 Gold, a mineral exploration company based in Minneapolis, had complied with the law and followed the government’s rules to obtain a permit to explore for gold in the region only to have the rug pulled out from under them by an executive action that never went before Congress. This isn’t just bad policy; it’s illegal.
The Biden administration justified this land withdrawal by claiming it was necessary to protect municipal water supplies and purportedly sacred cultural sites. But in reality, PLO 7956 was a political decision aimed at control — a pretext to stop all development on federal lands for decades, regardless of the impact on F3 Gold and the nation’s future. For the Biden Administration, it was not F3 Gold’s rights to act on its permit that mattered, but a purported value in the environment that it believed exists apart from our public land’s value or purpose for Americans.
In the Biden Administration’s view, every action that humans take to shape the environment for our benefit — converting trees into lumber, turning land into lots for homes, using cars for personal transportation, or, in this case, finding minerals that we can then put to work as energy or technology — is a violation against untouched nature.
That 1970s perspective is wrongheaded and counterproductive. Moreover, the decision to block mineral exploration in South Dakota based on that radical view failed to follow the requirements of the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
Under the CRA, executive agencies must submit new rules — broadly defined to include land withdrawals and agency policies — to both houses of Congress for review. Congress then has the opportunity to disapprove of those rules through a fast-track process that avoids the Senate filibuster. Importantly, no rule can take legal effect until it’s properly submitted. That means PLO 7956, as of now, is legally meaningless — an unauthorized act of executive overreach that should be treated as void.
Legal experts, including Jeff McCoy of Pacific Legal Foundation, have explained that land withdrawals are subject to CRA oversight. McCoy notes that the term “rule” under the CRA is broad enough to include public land orders like PLO 7956 and that Congress has the legal obligation to review them. If the Biden administration failed to submit the order, then it has no legal effect — it didn’t, and it doesn’t.
It’s obvious what should come next: the Trump administration can and should submit PL0 7956 to Congress now.
Why does this matter? Because Congress recently exercised this exact CRA power. Just weeks ago, lawmakers passed a resolution under the CRA to overturn the Biden EPA’s decision to grant California a waiver from federal vehicle emissions standards – a major regulatory action that had been quietly rubber-stamped without congressional scrutiny. The successful resolution, which President Trump will sign into law, marks one of the most high-profile uses of the CRA in recent memory.
But compared to the EPA’s California waiver, PLO 7956 is an even clearer-cut case. Unlike the EPA waiver, which was a reauthorization of a previously granted exception, PLO 7956 is a fresh assertion of power. It is a sweeping ban on mining across a major resource-rich landscape. There is no ambiguity about its future effect or its impact on private actors like F3 Gold. It is precisely the kind of rule the CRA was designed to constrain.
The Trump administration has a golden opportunity to set the record straight. By formally submitting PLO 7956 to Congress, it can trigger the CRA’s review process and give lawmakers a chance to reject this hasty, politically motivated land withdrawal. Once Congress disapproves of the last administration’s action, President Trump can sign a joint resolution invalidating the rule and restoring access to critical mineral resources.
These are not just abstract policy battles. The minerals buried in South Dakota are vital to American industry and national security. Gold is not only a financial asset — it also plays a role in semiconductors, defense technology and clean energy systems. A nation that hopes to lead in advanced manufacturing and innovation must secure a reliable, domestic supply of these resources. It is self-defeating to allow left-wing ideology to override lawful permits and derail energy and mineral production.
A lame-duck president may have issued Public Land Order 7956, but it is not too late to stop it. The Trump administration should submit the order to Congress under the Congressional Review Act, and Congress should reject it. Let’s unleash the full potential of America’s natural resources, starting in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
This op-ed originally appeared in The Dakota Scout on June 21, 2025.
