Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, faces opposition from environmentalists, conservatives, and fellow lawmakers, who claim that his proposal to sell federal land to address the housing crisis would endanger the nation’s most protected land.

As part of the committee’s legislative text for Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Lee included a provision requiring the Bureau of Land Management and National Forest System to sell certain federal land for housing.

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What land is eligible for sale under the bill?

The provision would mandate the sale of 0.50% to 0.75% of BLM land and National Forest System land in 11 western states for housing development.

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming are the states eligible for sales.

The bill states that the sales would exclude the sale of federally protected land, land subject to valid existing rights, or land not located in an eligible state. The provision includes 15 categories of protected land not for sale, including National Parks, National Monuments, National Recreation Areas, National Wilderness areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, and others. 

The secretary of the interior would take public input on lands to be put up for sale and then begin listing land for sale in consultation with states and local governments.

What are critics saying?

The proposal has met criticism from environmentalists and some conservatives.

Environmentalists say that the provision would allow for at least 250 million acres of public land to be eligible for sale. The Wilderness Society, a left-of-center group, released a report earlier this week that said the provision does not protect Wilderness Study Areas, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern, roadless areas, and critical habitats from being sold. The society is led by former President Joe Biden’s director of BLM, Tracey Stone-Manning, who Republicans have accused of “ecoterrorism.”

The report said that the bill threatens the Arctic, Otero Mesa, the Owyhee Canyonlands, and the Snoqualmie forests.

“This effort is in and of itself entirely destructive—especially when considered with other provisions in the bill that will mandate oil lease sales in the Arctic Refuge, force construction of a mining road through a national park and more than double the amount of logging in western national forests…” the society said.

The federal government owns about 640 million acres of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the United States, according to the Library of Congress.

What is Lee’s defense?

Lee has claimed that the Wilderness Society report is full of inaccuracies.

“If all I knew about this bill were the falsehoods being circulated by the Left, I would dislike it as well,” he said in an interview with Glenn Beck.

“What we’re dealing with is an entire generation of Americans that will fail to launch if we can’t bring the dream of homeownership back within reach,” he added. 

The senator said he plans to amend the provision. Lee said the bill would ensure that land for sale is within two to five miles of an existing population center.

Lee has advanced the idea of using federal land for years to address the massive housing shortage facing the U.S.

“People are experiencing a genuine housing shortage. This is there to help address that,” Lee said. He added that there is a “good chance” that the bill will pass as part of the reconciliation bill.

Lee added that left-wing individuals and those who “consider themselves conservatives” are using misinformation and believing that the bill would do more than it does. 

Who are the conservative critics?

Earlier this week, Lee received criticism from conservatives like Benji Backer, the founder and executive chairman of the American Conservative Coalition, a right-of-center environmental advocacy group, who claimed that Lee’s bill would sell protected land. 

Lee “is secretly trying to sell 3 MILLION acres of America’s public land for development. … Americans across the political spectrum are **overwhelmingly** against the sale of our beauty,” Backer tweeted. 

Backer called on senators not to allow Lee to move forward with the provision. He linked to a map created by the Wilderness Society showing the land that would be available for sale. 

“The legislation specifically exempts National Parks, National Monuments, Wilderness Areas, National Recreation Areas, and eleven other categories of federally protected land from sales to build much-needed housing for American families,” Lee said in response to Backer’s criticism. 

Lee has also received criticism from prominent conservative activist Christopher Rufo, who said he is “totally opposed” to the sale of federal land in the West.

Some congressional Republicans also oppose such land sales. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) claimed credit for removing a land sale provision from the House version of the bill and said he was a “no” on the Senate version of the legislation.

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What about Democrats?

Meanwhile, Sen John Hickenlooper (D-CO), who sits on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee with Lee, said on Colorado Public Radio that he was “shocked” the provision was added and that none of the Democrats in the states affected by it were given advanced notice or the ability to provide input. 

“That’s not the way government’s supposed to work,” Hickenlooper said. 

“It is mind-numbing that something like this could come forward without any discussion,” he said.