Proposal dwarfs previous House efforts, signals unprecedented attack on the public lands legacy owned by all Americans.
MISSOULA, Mont. — Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) is rebuking a sweeping new proposal released by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that would force the sale of up to 3 million acres of public lands under the guise of a solution to the housing crisis. This proposal—led by committee chair Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)—would apply to public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service across: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
“This isn’t about budget reconciliation or affordable housing. This is a fraudulent scheme to swindle American citizens out of our shared legacy,” said Patrick Berry, President and CEO for BHA. “Our public lands are not disposable assets and the gaslighting campaign claiming this is somehow a solution to a housing crisis is an insult to all of us. Our lands are the physical inheritance of generations of Americans who fought to keep public lands in public hands. We owe it to those who had the vision to create this irreplaceable American ideal—and to those who stand to benefit from our stewardship—to tell our elected officials: united we stand for public lands.”
Similar to the House of Representative’s now defunct proposal, the Senate’s language sidesteps the bipartisan Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA), a law designed to ensure that proceeds from public land sales are reinvested in conservation and public access.
Beyond the unprecedented mandate to sell off millions of acres, the proposed legislation also includes provisions strongly opposed by BHA that would:
- Reverse prior decisions preventing the construction of the private 211-mile Ambler Road through Alaska’s Brooks Range, threatening the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and one of North America’s great wildlife migrations;
- Require new oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge;
- Eliminate reforms that curtailed speculative, noncompetitive leasing of public lands for oil and gas development.
BHA is calling on Congress to reject these provisions and urges its members across the country to contact their elected officials, utilizing BHA’s dedicated Action Center here.
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers seeks to ensure North America’s outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands, waters, and wildlife. To learn more about issues important to BHA’s membership, visit https://www.backcountryhunters.org/our_issues.
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