Summary: The House Natural Resources Committee in Congress has pushed through a budget reconciliation plan that California’s congressional champ Representative Jared Huffman has called “the most extreme, anti-environment legislation in American history. It’s a billionaires-first, Americans-last giveaway to benefit Big Oil and polluters.”
At first, we thought we had secured a win for the public – and our shared lands – because the House Natural Resources committee initial draft text did not not contain explicit land sales. Yet, in the middle of the night the committee added public lands sales into the package—potentially hundreds of thousands of acres in Nevada and Utah.
While California was not named, in every other way, the legislation will be devastating for the outdoors. Here’s what you should know:
- The process isn’t over yet but Congress plans to pass it by the end of May, potentially this week.
- The bill is terrible in more than just selloffs. It contains damaging provisions that:
- repeal or reform clean energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act;
- undo climate rules;
- open up federal lands for more logging, mining, and fossil fuel production;
- offer ways for extraction industries to buy their way around environmental reviews and the public process through the National Environmental Policy Act.
- Tactics to sell off our public lands could expand beyond the budget process.
How the Budget Process Works:
Congress uses the budget reconciliation process to secure funding for their priorities, and Republicans with a majority want a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts which favor the ultra-wealthy. To do this, they are supposed to be cutting costs or raising new revenue. Yet, because the reconciliation process requires a simple majority to pass, Republicans have increasingly used it as a vehicle for sidestepping proposals that would otherwise require established review processes, or for pushing through unpopular legislation that would otherwise require more votes—and therefore bipartisan support—to pass.
The Selloff Threat Realized:
On May 6th, during a late-night markup of the House Natural Resources Committee’s portion of the budget bill, Rep. Mark Amodei (NV) pushed through an amendment calling for the sale of public lands in Nevada (Lyon, Clark, Washoe, and Pershing Counties) and Utah (Beaver and Washington Counties). This is despite a lack of solid numbers to indicate reasonable fiscal impact, restrictions on what the lands can be used for, or even clear maps.
Why It Matters:
First, these lands don’t just belong to those states—they’re national public lands, meaning they belong to all of us. Once sold, they are gone forever. And, even if California isn’t targeted yet, allowing these selloffs to proceed in other states sets a dangerous precedent for public lands in all states.
The most recent selloff ruse: Affordable Housing
Threats to sell off public lands have been brewing in certain states for some time despite their lack of public approval. Their latest tactic is to use housing affordability as a new justification and our policy team is on top of it. We show how public lands sell offs will not solve this problem: most public lands are remote, lack infrastructure, and are unsuitable for development. Read our Assistant Policy Director, Linda Castro’s oped in the the Capitol Press here.
We’re also tabling to help the public understand what’s at stake. Above CalWild staff and a volunteer educate attendees of the Wild and Scenic Film Festival about our work to counter threats to California public lands. Many participants took photos of one our flyers:
What You Can Do:
- Take action: We previously shared an action alert to stop these selloffs. If you already acted—thank you! There will be more opportunities to stop this bill, and we will continue to need your voice. If Congress continues to launch regular attacks on our public lands, we need to more regularly push back and show them that it’s STILL not OK to sell off public lands! Send a message here.
- Encourage friends to join the cause! Send our action alert to a friend. We’re actively building our base to exert more pressure on elected officials and we need Californians who stand with us to stay in the loop.
