Here’s the scaled back version of Sen. Mike Lee’s public lands sale

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A new version of Senator Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) plan to make millions of acres of public lands available for sale significantly scales back just how much land would be eligible, but it’s still unknown whether it’s been approved by the Senate’s rules referee, the Parliamentarian.

The new version, released by Politico, cuts the amount of BLM land required to be sold from .5% to 75% to no less than .25% and no more than .5% in 11 western states, and removes all Forest Service land from eligibility.

An analysis published by Outdoor Life estimates that it is up to 1.2 million eligible acres.

The original bill required the sale of at least 2 million acres of public lands, making 258 million acres of land across the West and 18.7 million acres in Utah eligible, but that version hit a snag when it was rejected because of a rule requiring that reconciliation bills stick to budgetary matters, known as the Byrd Rule.

In addition to the cuts in the amount of eligible land, here are the other key new provisions:

    •    Clarifies that only lands near cities would be sold. Excludes any land not located within “5 miles of the border of a population center.”

    •    Clarifies that these sales can only be used for housing and updates the nomination criteria.

The bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to select and publish tracts of land available for sale. They must prioritize lands “nominated by states or local governments, are adjacent to developed areas, have access to existing infrastructure, are suitable for residential housing, reduce checkboard land patterns, or are isolated tracts that are inefficient to manage,” according to the new version of the bill.

To apply for a tract to be sold, the interested party must describe how it would “address local housing needs (including housing supply and affordability) or any associated infrastructure and amenities to support local needs associated with housing.”

    •   Adds new criteria that says that the Secretary should prioritize lands that do not diminish existing community recreational opportunities or amenities.

    •    Clarifies that lands with valid existing rights or valid permits or special authorized uses (e.g., grazing permits or ski area permits) are ineligible for disposal.

    •    Increases the share of proceeds from land sales allocated to addressing BLM’s deferred maintenance backlog within the state of sale from 5% to 10%, and expands eligible uses for these funds to include improvements to hunting, fishing, and recreational amenities.

    •    Adds a sunset date for the authority to make lands available for sale, expiring on September 30, 2034.

Utah GOP leaders back Sen. Lee

Utah GOP Chair Rob Axson came out in support of Sen. Lee’s proposal saying quote, “Sen. Lee is doing exactly what Utahns elected him to do – advocate for his state. For generations, Utah and other Western states have faced serious challenges due to excessive federal control of public lands.”

Senator John Curtis (R-Utah) also supported the provision saying, “Some of Utah’s towns are being boxed in by federal land boundaries – worsening our already difficult housing shortage. Right now, teachers, first responders, and service workers are being priced out of the communities they serve.”