Sen. Lee defends public lands sale provision in budget bill, says changes to provision are on the way

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — On Thursday, Utah Sen. Mike Lee (R) defended reintroducing a provision to sell public lands in the “big beautiful” budget bill, saying changes to the provisions were on the way.

Lee joined conservative

radio host Glenn Beck, where he pushed back on what he said were “leftist” falsehoods and misinformation being circulated about the bill.

“When this bill puts land in the category of eligibility for sale, it doesn’t mean for sale,” he said. “It just means there’s a process by which it could be transferred. That’s impossible right now.”

According to an analysis performed by the Wilderness Society, the public lands sale provision would make 18.7 million acres of public lands in Utah eligible for sale, along with millions more across the West.

Critics of the public lands sale provisions have condemned adding it to the budget bill, saying it was a way to “pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy.” The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) said the sale would include several “spectacular and popular” areas such as hiking and biking trailheads, important habitats for big game, and inventoried roadless areas.

However, Sen. Lee said that some of the changes that are coming to the provision, such as proximity to population requirements, could serve to quell fears held by those who think beloved open land may be sold off.

“They’re working on changes to further limit eligible lands to those [U.S.] Forest Service-owned lands within two miles of a population center and lands managed by [the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)] within five miles of a population center,” Lee said. “So this deals with land near populations, and it doesn’t authorize the sale, it authorizes a process whereby it could be considered for that process.”

A spokesperson for Lee’s office confirmed with ABC4.com that the new provisions are coming, but couldn’t say when.

Lee also clarified that land in “15 designations of federal protected land” won’t be touched, like national parks, wilderness areas, recreation areas, wild and scenic rivers, trails, preserves, seashores, lake shores, historic parks, or memorials, he said.

Lee said he believed there was “a very good chance” that the bill would pass, and outlined that if it does, it would then require an interested party to apply to the BLM or the U.S. Forest Service. If that land is deemed suitable for single-family housing, not high-density housing of any kind, “then and only then” can it be purchased at a discounted rate.

During his time with Glen Beck, Lee did not discuss a requirement that cabinet secretaries who oversee the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service would be required to sell between 0.5% and 0.75% of federal land, or between 2 million and 3 million acres. He also did not discuss that the Secretary of the Interior would be required to sell at least four oil and gas leases in each of the following states: Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Wyoming.