Mike Lee seeks to reinstate public lands sales in megabill

E&E News

2 days ago

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee wants to revive public lands sales axed last month from the Republican tax, energy and security spending megabill.
POLITICO's E&E News asked the Utah Republican Monday whether he intended to bring back public lands provisions that were cut from the House package. Lee, who was on his way to a procedural vote on a Defense department nominee, responded, 'I gotta go vote, but yes.'
Last month, following a protracted intraparty battle, House leaders stripped the sale or transfer of nearly half a million acres in Nevada and Utah from the 'one, big, beautiful bill.'
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The bill is now awaiting action in the Senate, where senators will retool it and return it to the House. POLITICO reported Monday that Senate committees, including Environment and Public Works, plan to begin releasing text as early as this week.
Lee has long railed against federal ownership of lands in Western states. He frequently points out that roughly two-thirds of land in Utah is federally owned. On Monday, he did not elaborate on the details of what he plans to reintroduce.
Lee's plans could add a major hurdle into the upper chamber's race to pass their version of the bill to unlock President Donald Trump's domestic agenda by July 4. Public lands sales are caustic to some members of the Senate like Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who has vowed to never vote for the sale of public lands.
Senate Republicans can only afford to lose three votes on the legislation, which is being passed via budget reconciliation — a parliamentary measure that allows them to skirt the Senate's 60-vote filibuster.
The return of public lands sales would also reignite anger from Democrats and public lands advocates, who have long worried about Lee's intentions.
'If Sen. Lee tries to reinsert public lands selloff provisions in the Senate bill, it shows just how out of touch he is with what Western Americans and Americans across the country want,' said Michael Carroll, public lands campaign director at the Wilderness Society, in an interview.
'Congress stripped that provision out of the budget bill and now it looks like this provision's going to have to get taken out of the Senate bill if and when Sen. Lee decides to move forward.'
Public lands sales first entered the House reconciliation bill through a committee amendment from Reps. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) and Celeste Maloy (R-Utah).
Amodei and Maloy argued the amendment was carefully tailored to address housing needs, but opponents warned it would set a precedent that public lands can be sold any time Congress needs to raise revenues.
The language was stripped by House leadership just hours before the vote after a push from Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Trump's first Interior secretary. He had threatened to vote against the whole bill unless the provision was removed.