Senate Republicans unveiled legislation Wednesday that would require the sale of millions of acres of U.S. public land in Western states, a proposal that conservation groups slammed as a giveaway to corporate interests and the rich disguised as an attempt to alleviate the housing crisis.
The bill released by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources is a piece of the GOP's sprawling budget reconciliation package, which the party hopes to send to President Donald Trump's desk in a matter of weeks.
The measure directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to "dispose of 0.5-0.75% of certain BLM land and the Forest Service to dispose of 0.5-0.75% of certain National Forest System Land," and would give Trump administration officials wide latitude to determine whether public land sell-offs would "address local housing needs (including housing supply and affordability) or any associated community needs."
Analysts have rejected the notion that selling federal land to developers is a viable solution to the U.S. housing crisis, arguing that the proposal "is little more than a Trojan horse for a fringe, anti-public lands agenda."
"It's a travesty that Senate Republicans are putting more than 3 million acres of our beloved public lands on the chopping block to sell at fire-sale prices to build mega-mansions for the ultra-rich."
The Senate's proposal, spearheaded by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), represents a more extreme version of a provision that was removed from the House version of the GOP reconciliation package last month amid widespread backlash.
"Senate Republicans have finally said the quiet part out loud: They want to put millions of acres of our public lands up in a fire sale, destroy the investments that have created thousands of manufacturing and clean energy jobs—including in their home states—and obliterate programs that lower energy costs for everyday Americans," said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), the ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“In the days ahead, you'll hear a lot of excuses from Republicans trying to cover for what they're doing. Do not believe it," Heinrich continued. "This isn't about building more housing or energy dominance. It's about giving their billionaire buddies YOUR land and YOUR money."
Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, warned that the Senate legislation "is just open season on public lands."
"It's a travesty that Senate Republicans are putting more than 3 million acres of our beloved public lands on the chopping block to sell at fire-sale prices to build mega-mansions for the ultra-rich," said Donnelly.
The legislation also instructs the U.S. Interior Department, currently led by Big Oil ally and drilling proponent Doug Burgum, to "immediately resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales" and requires "a minimum of four oil and gas lease sales" each fiscal year in Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Nevada, Alaska, and "any other state in which there is land available for oil and gas leasing under the Mineral Leasing Act."
Burgum has described public land as "an incredible asset on America's balance sheet" that could be used "to solve our nation's affordable housing crisis."
In a statement on the legislation, the Sierra Club highlighted a provision that would enact "a harmful 'pay to pollute' scheme allowing a methane gas export company to pay a fee in exchange for LNG projects being automatically deemed in the public interest."
Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club's Lands Protection Program, said that Senate Republicans "are taking a second bite at a rotten apple."
"The American people made it clear last month that they will not tolerate selling off our public lands to billionaires and corporate polluters," said Manuel. "But Donald Trump and Mike Lee seem to have missed the memo. This bill would give billionaires and corporate polluters free rein to drill, mine, and log these treasured landscapes without oversight or accountability, and sell millions of acres of public lands to private developers, locking out American families forever."
"The American people will remind Trump and his congressional allies that our public lands shouldn't have a price tag on them," Manuel added.
