A controversial plan to sell hundreds of thousands of acres of public land in western states, including California, was ruled by the Republican Tax and Spending Act amid a bipartisan rebound, prompting conservationists’ celebrations.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), who led the proposal, announced that he will extract the provision on social media platforms Saturday night. Lee has said that land sales are designed to reduce the economic burden of housing, pointing to families in many communities that are not affordable torment.
“Due to the strict restrictions on the budget settlement process, I cannot ensure clear, enforceable safeguards to ensure that these lands are sold only to American families, not to China, not to Blackrock, and not to any foreign interest,” he wrote in the post.
He said he is withdrawing the measure from a “big beauty bill” that Trump said he hopes to pass by July 4 by “a large beauty bill”.
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, spoke at a hearing in January.
(Jose Luis Magana/AP)
Lee's failed measures will require the sale of approximately 600,000 to 1.2 million acres of land administration in 11 states, including California. Areas that can be auctioned should be within a five-mile radius of the center of the population.
The effort represents a scaled version of a plan that stood out on Monday in a settlement bill for violating Senate rules. The initial plan will allow the sale of 3.3 million acres of land managed by BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.
Lee’s decision to cancel the proposal comes after at least four Republican senators from Western countries vowed to make an amendment to propose an amendment from the bill.
Five House Republicans also expressed opposition to the plan, including California’s representative David Valadao and Montana’s Ryan Zinke, who served as Home Secretary during Trump’s first term.
The deaths of the provision were celebrated by conservationists and entertainment advocates, including hunters and anglers, even as they suppressed for ongoing battles against federal lands.
The Trump administration has taken steps to open public land for energy and resource extraction, including the recent announcement that it will revoke a rule that protects 58.5 million acres of national woodland from road construction and timber harvests.
Some critics argue that the now-ruled sale of land is a means to offset tax cuts in the settlement bill.
“This is a victory for everyone who hikes, hunts, explores and cherishes these places, but it is not the end of the threat to our public land,” Athan Manuel, director of the Land Conservation Program at the Sierra Club, said in a statement. “Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have made it clear that they will use all the tools available to give our public land to billionaires and corporate polluters.”
Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, is a nonprofit that works to protect rivers and streams to support trout and salmon, describing the protection of public land as “the most indifferent issue in the country.”
“This is certainly not the first attempt to privatize or transfer our public land, and it is not the last one,” Wood said in a statement. “We have to be vigilant and defend where we like fishing, hiking, hunting and exploring.”
Lee suggested in Saturday X post that the issue is still working.
He said he believed the federal government owned too much land and that was inappropriate. He claimed that taxes were locked on Utah’s locked land and limited the ability to build a home.
“President Trump promised to use underutilized federal land for work in American families and I look forward to helping him achieve this by respecting the legacy of our public lands and reflecting the values of those who use them most.”
