U.S. Senator Mike Lee speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. (Image: Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia Commons)
Benji Backer, author of The Conservative Environmentalist, slammed Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on social media, accusing him of “secretly trying to sell” America’s public land for development, and called Lee's proposal made a “loser issue.”
A land sale plan introduced by Lee as part of President Donald Trump's “One Big Beautiful Bill" has sparked widespread concerns, The Hill reported Wednesday.
This provision in the current Republican budget proposal could put more than two million acres of public land across 11 western states on the auction block. But it has drawn backlash from environmental groups, hunters, regional leaders, and even some conservatives, the report noted. Even Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) has railed against the idea, promising he would be a "no forever" on selling public land.
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This proposal from Lee, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is a longstanding push among many Western conservatives to transfer federally managed land to state or private hands.
Lee argues the measure would promote domestic energy production, generate new income, and ease housing shortages. States in the crosshairs of this proposal include Utah, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming.
In a video released by his office, the Utah Republican stressed that national parks, monuments, and designated wilderness areas wouldn’t be included in the sales. Instead, the focus would be on “isolated parcels” suitable for development or infrastructure projects.
“Washington has proven time and again it can’t manage this land. This bill puts it in better hands,” Lee said last Thursday, in comments highlighted by The Hill.
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Despite his defense of the plan, Lee has faced opposition even within his party. The report noted that Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) led an effort to strip the land sales clause from the House version of the bill. Calling himself a “hard no” on the issue, Zinke succeeded in having Montana excluded from the scope of the legislation, per the report.