The Senate Is Considering Selling Public Land. It Could Be About 2 Million Acres

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While members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee painted vastly different pictures of the state of public-land and natural-resources management in America, suggestions that a large land-auction amendment is forthcoming dominated today's budget reconciliation debate.
The sale of as much as two million acres of federal lands in Nevada, Alaska, Utah, and Idaho could be part of the federal budget proposal. A proposal to sell about 500,000 acres of land in Nevada and Utah caused such an uproar among hunters, anglers, and outdoor recreationists in the House version of the budget bill that the provision was removed.
But now the Senate might reintroduce an even bigger land-sale proposal, and details could be released as soon as this evening.
Committee Chair Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), a consistent proponent of transferring federal lands to state management, indicated that language identifying parcels of federal land and a process for their sale is forthcoming.
'Language will be out shortly,' Lee told his Senate colleagues shortly after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, testifying before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee on budget details, confirmed that discussions about a massive land-sale have been taking place. 'We've been going through the Republican-side Byrd process and will be releasing bill text soon,' Lee noted.
The Byrd rule prohibits the inclusion of non-budgetary items in a budget reconciliation bill.
Indications that Lee has been working to restore a land-sale provision in the budget bill have been circulating for at least a week. Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) told the news site Politico that he had been working with Lee on what he characterized as land sales that are 'very, very narrow in scope.' Daines had previously said that he opposes land sales.
On Wednesday Daines' office reaffirmed that position to Outdoor Life in an emailed statement, noting that 'Senator Daines is against the sale of public lands and is making his strong concerns clear to his colleagues.'
Lee's acknowledgement that a large land-sale amendment might be forthcoming came after a contentious exchange on the topic between Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Burgum.
'In Nevada, we support public-land sales, particularly in southern Nevada and especially under the parameters that are set by the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA),' Cortez Masto told Burgum, who has previously indicated that he supports the SNPLMA model. 'It's a model that requires robust stakeholder engagement that addresses all the land-management issues that we need, from affordable housing to economic development to water and infrastructure needs.'
Cortez Masto noted that under the SNPLMA model, revenue from the sale of federal lands is returned to the BLM for revinvestment in other public lands. She scolded Burgum for supporting the House budget provision that included land disposals in Nevada that didn't follow the SNPLMA model.
'You had land in the House side [of the reconciliation bill] that was in the middle of the desert,' she said. 'It makes no sense. I don't know any builders who can build affordable housing in the middle of the desert. But now I'm hearing a proposal by the chair of this committee to put this back in reconciliation. I'm hearing the proposal would allow the federal government to sell up to two million acres of land. Is that correct?'
Before Lee interjected to confirm that he's working on a land-disposal amendment, Burgum told Cortez Masto that federal land in at least four states would be considered.
'Generically, when anybody has looked at land sales, they would look at the states that have been most overburdened by federal government holdings, and among the top of that is Nevada, Alaska, Idaho, and Utah with the highest percentage of federal land.'
Read Next: Here's Why the Federal Land Sale Bill Is a Bad Idea, and Horrible Legislation
Lee gave Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee members until this evening to submit comments and amendments for consideration. The whole committee will reconvene to debate and vote on its part of the reconciliation bill. Senate leadership has indicated it might keep the body in session through the July 4 recess in order to pass its version of the budget, which would then go back to the House for concurrence.
Lee noted in his remarks to the committee that 'Anything on public land sales will involve a public process that will be part of any sale.'
This story was updated on June 11 at 5:43 EST to include comment from Sen. Daines' office.