DENVER—Late Friday night, Utah Senator Mike Lee released the fourth version of his public land sell-off bill. This language was included in the full version of the budget reconciliation bill released by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsay Graham last night.
The latest iteration of Lee’s land sell-off drops any pretense of being an affordable housing solution:
- In an apparent attempt to appease the Senate parliamentarian, the bill now requires the Interior secretary to sell parcels with the highest value first, even before parcels requested by cities and counties.
- The bill allows individual buyers to purchase up to two square miles of public land at a time, with no limit on the total amount of land any buyer can ultimately purchase.
- The bill says only “qualified bidders” may nominate land for sale, but does not define who is qualified, and does not prevent foreign billionaires from buying public land.
- The bill now defines “population centers” as any area with as few as 1,000 residents, and opens up a five-mile radius around each of those locations for sale.
- The bill still requires the Interior secretary to sell at least 600,000 acres of public land and up to 1.2 million acres of public land within ten years.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala:
“Senator Lee just can’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Americans across the political spectrum are united against this land grab. From MAGA Republicans to progressive Democrats, voters in the West are shouting with one voice that public lands belong in public hands. Once these lands are gone, they’re gone forever. This version of Senator Lee’s sell-off makes it even easier to turn the most valuable trailheads, viewpoints, and wildlife habitat across the West into gated communities and trophy homes for billionaires.
“It’s not clear if this most recent attempt to get rid of public lands will pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian. Either way, it’s incumbent on every member of the House and Senate to make it clear that public land sell-off is a red line.”
Learn more
- A conservative’s plan to sell public lands faces MAGA pushback [New York Times]
- Selling federal public land draws massive backlash from western hunters [Cowboy State Daily]
- 5 House Republicans say they will vote against GOP megabill over public land sales [The Hill]
- Montana Republicans vow to kill Sen. Mike Lee’s public land sales provision [NOTUS]
- Public land sale a ‘frontal assault on tribal treaty rights’ [High Country News]