Buffalo Tract Protection Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill withdraws certain Bureau of Land Management land in New Mexico from mining claims, mineral leasing, mineral material disposal, and geothermal leasing. It still allows the surface estate to be conveyed under existing land-disposal laws, but the United States must retain the mineral estate.
Who Benefits and How
Nearby conservation and land-protection interests benefit because the bill blocks new mineral and geothermal development on the covered acreage. Potential surface transferees may still benefit from the ability to acquire surface estate while avoiding mineral development under the land.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Mining, mineral, and geothermal development interests bear the burden because the bill removes those lands from new federal mineral entry and leasing opportunities. Interior and BLM staff also bear implementation burdens tied to administering the withdrawal and any future reserved-mineral conveyances.
Key Provisions
- Withdraws approximately 4,288 acres from mining, mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws
- Preserves valid existing rights
- Allows surface conveyance under existing land laws only if the United States reserves the mineral estate
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Withdraws approximately 4,288 acres of Bureau of Land Management land near Placitas, New Mexico, from mining, mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws while allowing surface conveyance with the mineral estate reserved to the United States.
Key Policy Areas
Public Lands, Conservation, Mining
Primary Purpose
Withdraws approximately 4,288 acres of Bureau of Land Management land near Placitas, New Mexico, from mining, mineral leasing, mineral materials, and geothermal leasing laws while allowing surface conveyance with the mineral estate reserved to the United States.
Policy Domains
Sections 1-2 - Buffalo Tract withdrawal
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Conservation and land-protection interests in the Placitas, New Mexico area
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Mining and geothermal developers that might otherwise seek rights on the withdrawn lands
- Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management officials administering the withdrawal
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeCommittee on Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, …
Mr. Heinrich (for himself and Mr. Luján) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and …
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Mining, mineral, and geothermal developers that might otherwise seek rights on the withdrawn Buffalo Tract land
Conservation and land-protection interests in the Placitas, New Mexico area
Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management officials administering the withdrawal and reserved mineral estate
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_director"
- → Director of the Bureau of Land Management
- "the_secretary_of_the_interior"
- → Secretary of the Interior
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology