Utah Senator Mike Lee wants to reintroduce the sale of public lands into President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill.” The ability to sell public land in Utah and Nevada was included in the original version of this bill when it originated in the House of Representatives. However, that provision was stripped from the version of the bill that passed the House, thanks in large part to public outcry, and Montana Representative Ryan Zinke, a Republican, standing against it.
The public land sold would be in Utah and Nevada, in areas currently experiencing rapid growth, but are surrounded by federally-owned public land that can’t be used for real estate development. In Utah, some of the land that would have been sold to the state was also along a corridor for a proposed water pipeline from Lake Powell, another controversial project to bring water to the extreme southern Utah desert.
Once the bill was approved by the House, it was sent to the Senate, where it faced numerous objections from both Democrats and Republicans. The Senate will make its own tweaks before sending it back to the House, and one of those changes is thanks to Mike Lee’s desire to sell public land.
On Monday, Lee was asked by a reporter from Politico if he wanted to add the public land sale provision back into Trump’s bill, according to KSL.com. Lee said “yes,” but later elaborated in a statement from one of his spokespeople.
“Sen. Lee remains committed to advancing Western priorities and ensuring that those who live closest to the land have a voice in how it’s managed,” spokesman Billy Gribbin told KSL.com Tuesday. “As the process moves forward, he’ll continue to advocate for solutions that reflect the needs of Utahns and other Western communities.”
Lee is one of the most outspoken senators when it comes to public lands. He has supported efforts in the past to sell off public land in Utah, including a recent attempt by the state’s governor and attorney general to gain control of 18 million acres of land currently administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Thanks for reporting this to us. Maybe the fly fishermen who vote for Republicans will someday come out of denial that these politicians want to kill our sport, whether it’s by closing off public access, letting extractors poison our watersheds, or turning the planet into an uninhabitable blast furnace by speeding instead of slowing the burning of fossil fuels.