It was a short-lived victory for public land advocates because the sale of public lands is already back on the table. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah’s, “reinstated language” this week that makes land across the West eligible for sale, according to The Deseret News.

If approved, it would allow states to sell off small percentages of public land for specific economic purposes. Further, the language is “tucked into a larger section of energy-related provisions” led by Lee, who serves as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, that includes provisions aimed at expanding lease sales in Alaska, reforming permitting procedures, and reversing clean energy initiatives from the Biden era.

“This is President Trump’s agenda: cut the Green New Scam, reduce the deficit, and unleash American energy,” said Lee in a statement. “We’re cutting billions in unused Biden-era climate slush funds, opening up energy and resource development, turning federal liabilities into taxpayer value, while making housing more affordable for hardworking American families. This is how we make government smaller, freer, and work for Americans.”

To push the revised language through, Lee had to adhere to the Byrd Rule. The rule restricts the inclusion of provisions in reconciliation bills that are considered “extraneous” to the budget process. To comply, Lee made changes that would avoid using specific maps to single out or target land in the western states identified on the list, which include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Instead, the language orders the interior secretary “to sell off between just 0.5% to 0.75% of federal lands” in these states, according to The Deseret News. 

National parks, monuments and dedicated wilderness reserves would not be included as potential land for sale. Instead, areas of “unused or underused federal lands adjacent to cities or metropolitan areas” would be targeted. Further, to obey Byrd Rule requirements, money from the land sales would go to conservation efforts, maintenance projects, infrastructure improvements for roads and utilities and school funding. Prior to any sale, the interior secretary would be required to confer with state and local governments and any Indian tribes in an effort to create a “public participant process,” The Deseret News reports.

While Lee worked with Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, who proposed the original public land sale provision, not everyone is in agreement that it’s the big solution it promises, especially when it comes to delivering affordable housing.

“Their reconciliation package included federal land sales…that weren’t even near areas where you could actually do affordable housing,” said Sen. Catherine Masto Cortez, D-Nevada, adding that “[t]he land is ‘in the middle of the desert. There’s no infrastructure. I don’t know any builder who is going to build housing in the middle of the desert, it makes no sense."

Lawmakers should also expect pushback from major outdoor organizations as over 100 have written a letter to Lee and other lawmakers about this issue.

To move forward, the full section has to be approved by the Senate parliamentarian who will determine whether the revised language complies with the Byrd Rule stipulations in order to be included in the final reconciliation package.

Stay tuned to GOHUNT for further updates.