Republicans in Congress are again pushing to sell off millions of acres of public land as part of the GOP’s tax cut and spending bill.
A draft budget from the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), calls for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service to sell between two and three million acres over the next five years. Land in every western state except Montana would be eligible for sale under the proposal.
“We’re opening underused federal land to expand housing, support local development and get Washington, D.C. out of the way of communities that are just trying to grow,” Lee said in a video announcement.
A similar land sale idea previously failed in the U.S. House of Representatives, facing opposition from environmental groups and some Republicans. The version released by the Senate involves far more land in more states.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the committee, accused Republicans of “taking a sledgehammer” to public lands, warning that sales would reduce public access and hurt local economies.
What land could be sold?
The bill requires the BLM and Forest Service to sell between .5% and .75% of the land they manage for housing development or “associated community needs.” Eligible states include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington or Wyoming. Some members of Congress from Montana – the only western state absent from the list – have vocalized their disapproval of land sales.
National parks, national monuments and other federally protected areas would be exempt, as would lands with “valid existing rights.”
“This is often about barren land next to highways with existing billboards that have no recreational value,” said Interior Secretary Doug Burgum in a congressional hearing last week.
Lands prioritized for sale would be those nominated by states or local governments, located near developed areas or considered “suitable for residential housing.”
But an analysis by The Wilderness Society, a public lands advocacy organization, estimates that while the bill authorizes the sale of up to three million acres, the government may have more than 250 million acres of eligible land to select from. The group’s mapping shows that lands potentially on the table include wilderness study areas, wildlife migration routes and recreation zones.
“They have really important values to these communities — not as housing, not as far flung, dusty places that are underutilized, but as a place that people go to every day,” said Michael Carroll, the BLM campaign director at The Wilderness Society.
Carroll, who lives in Durango, Colo., said it appeared Animus Mountain, an area popular for hiking and dog walking on the outskirts of town, could be within the criteria for sale.
Spokespeople for Sen. Lee did not respond to questions for this story by deadline.
How would it work?
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins would have broad authority over the land sales, publishing a list of nominated tracts every two months. They would solicit nominations from “interested parties” and consult with governors, local governments and tribes.
The bill would allow state and local governments – but not tribes – the right of first refusal to purchase nominated land. However, The Wilderness Society warns that local entities could struggle to compete with private developers.
“The bill sets up relatively under-resourced state and local governments to lose open bidding wars to well-heeled commercial interests,” the organization said in a news release.
Proceeds from the land sales would mostly go to the U.S. Treasury. 5% would be directed to the local government where the land is sold for housing development and 5% would go to deferred maintenance of federal land in the state.
Republicans want to get the major budget package over the finish line by early July.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by CPB.
