Public lands advocates and Democratic lawmakers are sounding the alarm over a recent move by House Republicans that could make it easier to sell off public lands.
The worry comes over language tucked into the House’s rules package for the 119th Congress that passed earlier this month. The GOP-authored text would not require lawmakers to account for lost revenue if lands are sold or transferred to a state, local government or tribe.
Lydia Weiss, senior director of government relations for the Wilderness Society, said the move “would effectively put the nation’s public lands on the clearance rack, and it is the logical first step in a campaign to expedite sale of those lands.”
House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said such a characterization was “not accurate.” He claimed that any transfers would be small in scope and meant to address small fixes, such as housing shortages for national park employees or communities landlocked by public lands.