Senate GOP plan would sell millions of acres of Western public land [View all]

Source: Washington Post

Senate Republicans have proposed selling off up to 3.3 million acres of federally owned land in 11 Western states, according to a draft legislative text offered as part of their spending and tax cut bill, prompting an outcry from conservationists and Democratic lawmakers.

According to a budget blueprint released Wednesday evening by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the federal government would be required to sell off between 2.2 and 3.3 million acres of land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service over the next five years.

The proposal stipulates that the sold land will have to be used to develop housing or “community development needs,” which it said could be defined by the secretaries of the Interior or Agriculture departments. The 11 states that would be affected by the proposal are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement Wednesday that the draft legislative text would turn “federal liabilities into taxpayer value, while making housing more affordable for hardworking American families.”

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/06/12/public-land-sales-proposal-senate-republicans-western-us/