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Utah Senator Mike Lee released a new version of his unpopular plan to sell off public land across the West after his first attempt received vehement pushback from the public and was flagged for violating Senate rules.
The new plan does not include U.S. Forest Service land, but it still requires the Bureau of Land Management to sell up to 1.2 million acres of national public land. This is limited to land within 5 miles of "population centers"—a vague, undefined term that could apply to lands near virtually any community.
Despite narrowing the scope of his proposal, Lee will likely continue to receive strong backlash from the public. According to the 2025 Conservation in the West Poll, 82 percent of Westerners prefer building more housing within or close to existing communities over selling off public lands to develop housing.
Lawmakers are quietly trying to hand over millions of acres of public land to oil and gas companies
In a new blog post, Center for Western Priorities Communications Manager Kate Groetzinger describes how Lee's proposed public lands sales aren't the only attack on public lands nestled in the budget reconciliation bill. Quietly making their way through Congress are provisions to sell out millions of acres of our public lands to oil and gas companies for a fraction of the current cost, allowing them to lock up millions of acres in drilling leases and putting even more money into the pockets of corporations and billionaires.
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It’s still a pile of dog sh*t, it’s just a different pile of dog sh*t. He just doesn’t get it.”
