House Natural Resources Committee gathers in Cedar City to discuss federal lands sales, geothermal energy

CEDAR CITY, Utah (ABC4) — The House Committee on Natural Resources gathered in Cedar City, Utah, to talk about the use of geothermal energy in southern Utah after a federal land sales proposal was adopted early Wednesday morning.

According to the Associated Press, the land sale provision put forward by Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-Utah) and Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nevada) would sell thousands of acres of public lands, including 11,000 acres of public land between Washington County, Beaver County and Nevada. It also calls for some of the parcels to be considered for affordable housing projects.

U.S. House Republicans on Wednesday passed the amendment, authorizing the sale of thousands of acres of public lands on the west coast, including Utah.

Rep. Maloy believes public lands can and should be used for geothermal energy in southern Utah. She asserts that Utah could be at the center of a geothermal boom. She met with other U.S. representatives from the House Committee on Natural Resources on Monday to talk about those opportunities.

However, wilderness preservation groups showed up in protest.

“I think you’ll see a really strong turnout today for people to tell Rep. Malloy, ‘Shame on you for trying to do this, for trying to sell off our public lands,'” one protestor said. “The hearing today is really just an opportunity for people to show their frustration with Rep. Malloy.”

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance also said their mission is to advocate for wilderness preservation, and to push back against this land sale.

“These are federal lands. They’re places that Utahns and Americans from around the country come to recreate, to hunt, to hike, and shouldn’t be sold off,” Grant Stevens, the director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance stated.

Malloy is pushing forward the sale of roughly 11,000 acres of public land between Washington County, Beaver County, and Nevada.

Watch the full meeting on the issue below.