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Miami Herald
18-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Map Shows Where 250 Million Acres of Public Land is Being Sold Off
The largest single sale of national public land in modern history could be carried out as part of President Donald Trump's budget bill to help pay for his sweeping tax cuts. However, a professor who is an expert on climate policy questioned the efficacy of the proposals, telling Newsweek that "selling off public lands will not reduce federal spending to any significant degree." Newsweek has contacted the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service via email for comment. The Senate committee said that a lot of the land owned by BLM and USFS cannot be used for housing, and so by opening up portions of federal land for large-scale housing construction, they intend to solve the "housing crisis." However, the nonprofit land conversation organization The Wilderness Society argued the opposite—that research suggests "very little of the land managed by the BLM and USFS is actually suitable for housing." It warned that much of the public land eligible for sale in the bill include "local recreation areas, wilderness study areas, inventoried roadless areas, critical wildlife habitat and big game migration corridors." The organization said the measure "trades ordinary Americans' access to outdoor recreation for a short-term payoff that disproportionately benefits the privileged and well-connected." The measure, which was included in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee's version of the tax-and-spending legislation released last week, aims to generate revenue for tax cuts by auctioning off public lands in 11 Western states. The legislation mandates that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Forest Service (USFS) sell more than 2 million acres over the next five years, with a total of 258 million acres now legally available for potential sale. The proposal mandates the nomination of tracts within 30 days, then every 60 days until the multi-million-acre goal is met, all without hearings, debate or public input. The plan is also part of a broader move to generate around $29 billion through a combination of expanded oil, gas, coal and geothermal lease sales, as well as new timber sales. According to The Wilderness Society, the total of USFS and BLM land available for sale under the new proposals for the Senate Reconciliation Bill, which are consolidated in the West, are as follows for each state: Alaska: 82.8 million acresArizona: 14.4 million acresCalifornia: 16.7 million acresColorado: 14.4 million acresIdaho: 21.7 million acresNevada: 33.6 million acresNew Mexico: 14.3 million acresOregon: 21.7 million acresUtah: 18.7 million acresWashington: 5.4 million acresWyoming: 15 million acres Studies show that less than 2 percent of USFS and BLM land is "close enough to population centers to make sense for housing development," Patrick Parenteau, a professor of law and senior fellow for climate policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School, told Newsweek. "Economists also found that more than half of federal lands within a quarter mile of towns needing more housing and a population of at least 100 people had high wildfire risk," he added. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said that the proposal is estimated to generate between $5 to $10 billion during the 2025-2034 period. However, whether this move will have a positive financial impact for the government has been debated by experts. Parenteau said "selling off public lands will not reduce federal spending to any significant degree." "There are lands that have been identified for sale or swaps due to the difficulty of managing them like checkerboard lands, but this legislation is not limited to those lands," he said. "The goal is to maximize revenue to offset the massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy." Parenteau added that the mandate also means that ultimately "buyers will have the upper hand." "The percentage of acreage being discussed is too small, in my view, to have any real effect on either the agencies' management budgets or the national debt," Deborah A. Sivas, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at Stanford Law, told Newsweek. "Most of these lands, especially remote lands managed by BLM, don't need or receive substantial or intensive management effort by the agencies; instead, they function largely as some of the last remaining ecological habitat for our dwindling wildlife," she said. Although, Wendie L. Kellington, a law attorney at Kellington Law Group, told Newsweek that the legislation "should have a positive budgetary impact on federal land maintenance and holding costs, because 5 percent of the proceeds from land sales must go to addressing the federal government's not insignificant backlog of deferred maintenance on federal BLM and forest lands in the states where the land is sold." She added that is expensive to own land and the federal government "has done a relatively poor job of maintaining its lands." The sale of public lands as part of Trump's tax bill has been a divisive measure, and a proposal to sell around 500,000 acres of federal land in Utah and Nevada was struck off the legislation by the House after some Republican lawmakers opposed the move. A number of Republican representatives launched the bipartisan Public Lands Caucus with the aim of "expanding public access to federal lands, not auctioning them off." Patrick Parenteau, a professor of law and senior fellow for climate policy at Vermont Law and Graduate School, told Newsweek: "The legislation sets a target of over 3 million acres to be sold by 2030, but over 200 million acres of public lands would be eligible for sale to the highest bidder which is likely to be real estate developers or wealthy individuals looking for property near major attractions like Lake Tahoe or Gates of the Arctic. "Even though national parks, wilderness, wild and scenic rivers and other protected areas are excluded, the areas eligible for sale include local recreation areas, wilderness study areas, inventoried roadless areas, critical wildlife habitat and big game migration corridors." He added: "Sales could impact local communities by eliminating access to popular recreation areas for hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, and more, reducing revenues from tourism near gateway communities, imposing more costs for public services like sewage and fire and police protection, increasing air and water pollution depending on what land uses are allowed, and so forth." Wendie L. Kellington, a law attorney at Kellington Law Group, told Newsweek: "The impact should be positive in the states and regions where the land is sold because the federal land to be sold can only be used for the development of housing or to address associated community needs. "The states identified in the bill are ones with disproportionately great housing shortages and affordability challenges. The affected regions will not lose beloved park or conservation lands. Rather, the bill is narrow and expressly prohibits sales of 'federally protected land" which includes national parks, wild and scenic river areas, national wildlife refuges, national historic sites and many other federally protected sites. "The bill is an effort at a federal solution to a well-known, stubborn, serious housing shortage problem that no one has been able to solve for the past three decades." Deborah A. Sivas, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at Stanford Law, told Newsweek: "Most federal public land is remote from infrastructure and communities, which means it has little value as land per se on the private market and is unlikely to raise appreciable revenue. Maybe there are some parcels immediately adjacent to human communities and services, but for the most part, developers will not be interested in lands that do not connect to supporting infrastructure, human amenities, or nearby jobs." She added: "Starting in 1976, we largely halted, as a matter of public policy, the very long history of selling or giving away federal lands. And I recently saw yet another poll reaffirming that Americans remain overwhelmingly opposed to the sell-off of public lands, which are considered a national treasure and legacy for future generations." The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committeesaid in its fact sheet on the legislation: "In the West, this means that the federal government is depriving our communities of needed land for housing and inhibiting growth. President Trump recognized the connection between federal land ownership and the housing crisis, which is why he pledged to 'open up portions of federal land for large-scale housing construction.'" It added: "This proposal allows a fraction of 1 percent of federal land to be used to build houses. In doing so, it will create thousands of jobs, allow millions of Americans to realize the American dream, and reduce the deficit and fund our public lands." The committee's proposals, unveiled June 11 and revised June 14, is still subject to debate and potential amendment as the Senate deliberates over Trump's tax bill ahead of the self-set deadline of July 4. Related Articles E. Jean Carroll on 'Comedy Gold' of Trump Trial and How She'll Spend $83MNo Kings Protests or Trump's Army Parade-Which Won the Weekend? Newsweek Contributors DebateDonald Trump's Approval Rating is Suffering With RepublicansHow Recall of 20 Million Eggs Could Affect US Prices 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Boston Globe
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump wants to use the ‘God Squad' to increase logging, but it must follow strict rules
Here's what to know: What does Trump want? The president on Saturday signed actions to increase domestic lumber production in national forests and other public lands, directing federal agencies to look for ways to bypass protections for endangered species. Upon taking office in January, Trump declared a national energy emergency and directed the committee to convene at least quarterly to either consider exemptions or, if there are none, 'to identify obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure' related to the Endangered Species Act or the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The Endangered Species Act makes it illegal to harm or kill protected species and has led to restrictions on logging, mining and oil and gas development. The Marine Mammal Protection Act bans killing and harassment of marine mammals with some limited exceptions. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up What is the God Squad? Advertisement Officially called the Endangered Species Committee, it was established in 1978 as a way to exempt projects from Endangered Species Act protections if a cost-benefit analysis concluded it was the only way to achieve net economic benefits in the national or regional interest. In the case of logging, the analysis also should determine if the benefits of cutting trees outweigh the economic value of watershed and other protections provided by standing timber, said Patrick Parenteau, an emeritus professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School who helped write criteria for the God Squad. The seven-member committee is led by the secretary of the Interior and includes the secretaries of Agriculture and the Army, administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. Affected states also would be represented with one vote total, meaning multiple states would each get a fraction of a vote. Advertisement Five votes are required for an exemption. When can the God Squad be convened? The secretary of the Interior can convene the committee only for a specific project and only if the US Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service — after a required environmental review — concludes the project would jeopardize survival of a protected species, Parenteau said. Otherwise, 'there is no basis to convene the God Squad,' he said. 'Contrary to what Trump has been talking about, you don't convene this committee to grant exemptions prospectively. That is not legal. There's no jurisdiction for the committee to even be convened to do that.' What has the committee done in the past? Only twice in its 47 years has the committee issued exemptions. The first allowed construction of a dam on a section of the Platte River considered critical habitat for whooping cranes. But a negotiated settlement won significant protections that led to overall ecosystem improvement and a rebounded crane population. The second exemption, during the George H.W. Bush administration, was for logging in northern spotted owl habitat. But the Bureau of Land Management under President Bill Clinton withdrew the request after environmental groups sued, arguing that the committee's decision was political and violated legal procedures.
New York Times
28-01-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Could Trump Use the ‘God Squad' to Override Environmental Law?
In at least two executive orders since he took office last week, President Trump has invoked a panel with a telling nickname: the God Squad. The committee is made up of high-level officials who can override the landmark Endangered Species Act so that development or other projects can proceed even if they might result in an extinction. It's called the God Squad because its members 'literally have the authority over the life and death of the species,' said Patrick Parenteau, an emeritus professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School who, in the late 1970s, had a hand in writing the legislative language that created the God Squad provision. 'They can cause the species to go extinct from the face of the earth,' he said. The power to convene the committee comes from an amendment to the act itself, but it has rarely been used. And just because Mr. Trump says he plans to use it now, legal experts emphasize, it doesn't mean he will be successful. There are stringent procedural requirements that have to come first. How does the 'God Squad' work? Officially named the Endangered Species Committee, the group is led by the interior secretary and composed of five other senior officials: the secretaries of agriculture and the Army, the head of the Council of Economic Advisers and the administrators of the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Each has a vote. It also includes one person each from any affected states, whose votes collectively add up to one. When a federal action in question is deemed to be in the public interest and is nationally or regionally significant, the members of the committee can decide that major economic factors outweigh the Endangered Species Act's requirements. If five of the seven votes are in favor of a project proceeding, it can do so. The God Squad has ruled three times since it was created in 1978. One exemption was denied, and two were permitted. A dam was allowed to proceed in 1979 despite concerns about whooping cranes, but the project included significant measures to help the birds, whose numbers have grown over time. In the other, related to the northern spotted owl, environmental groups sued in 1992 after an exemption was given for logging, arguing that the committee's decision had violated legal procedures and was based in politics rather than science. The Bureau of Land Management withdrew its request for the exemption. How is Trump trying to use it now? He has referred to the committee in at least two executive orders since taking office. In an order that declares a national energy emergency, Mr. Trump directs the interior secretary to 'convene the Endangered Species Act Committee not less than quarterly, unless otherwise required by law.' If there are no applications for the committee to review, then it should still meet to 'to identify obstacles to domestic energy infrastructure' related to the Endangered Species Act or the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the order says. In another executive order, made public on Sunday and related to the management of California's water, the president orders the interior secretary to expedite any actions related to an exemption. But unless the group is reviewing a request for a specific exemption for a specific action, environmental lawyers say, it's not acting as the God Squad. And to convene the God Squad, the law requires that certain procedures be met. These can take a long time. 'It seems like they believe that the God Squad can wave its hand and declare a particular species no longer within the protection of the Endangered Species Act,' said Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife and oceans at Earthjustice, an environmental law organization that sued the federal government in the spotted owl case. 'That's not how the process works at all.' Consultation in good faith has to have occurred. Alternatives have to have been considered. Biological opinions have to be issued. If any of these criteria are not met? 'Then you go to court,' Mr. Parenteau said. On top of all that, the group applying for the exemption from the committee must pay for any required actions to try to preserve the species, possibly forever. Congress made the entire process somewhat onerous by design, lawyers say, because the stakes of extinction are so high. The executive order related to California water involves several threatened or endangered fish, including the delta smelt, a fish that Mr. Trump targeted in his first administration and which he has inaccurately linked to the devastating fires in the Los Angeles region. 'If a case actually gets to the Trump administration God Squad, I would absolutely expect an exemption,' Mr. Parenteau said. 'But I don't see a case getting there, and certainly not the delta smelt.' The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
