Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) — chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — has revised a plan to sell off large swaths of the West’s public lands. It's part of the Republican budget bill said to be aimed at slashing government spending.
The changes, spurred by an advisory ruling that warned the land sale provision likely violated Senate rules, came quickly after mass protests from communities across the country.
Part of the current Republican effort to reduce the U.S.’ budget, Sen. Lee is now proposing to sell only Bureau of Land Management land — cutting the mandatory minimum from 0.50% to 0.25% of federally owned land.
Additionally, land eligibility would be limited to tracts within 5 miles of a “population center,” excluding grazing leases or other conflicting uses.
The BLM manages about 245 million acres of land nationally, including about 13.5 million acres in New Mexico.
While this would reduce the overall estimate of land that could potentially be sold in New Mexico, advocates say they are still going to fight the proposal.
“It’s still a ton of land,” said Sally Paez, an attorney with the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance. “This would still be the biggest sale of public lands in history.”
Paez said that it’s not just about the land – it’s also about the nearby communities that rely on outdoor recreation.
“One thing that we're really worried about is that these are a lot of our ‘gateway communities’ to the outdoors,” Paez said.
“A lot of these lands are places that support our local economies, our tourism and our outdoor recreation jobs are often going to be close to a population center.”
In New Mexico, parcels of BLM land that could potentially be sold are scattered across much of the state, especially in the southern half near Las Cruces, Carlsbad, and also throughout the central mountains.
Many are near small towns and outdoor recreation areas, according to a previous analysis by the Wilderness Society.
Similarly, the budget draft alters very specific language giving the Secretary of the Interior discretion to choose which land will be auctioned off.
Before, it was a requirement that any nominated land up for “disposal” would need to somewhat address local housing needs or related infrastructure.
Now, the word “amenities” has been added – an ambiguous move that Paez worries could open up public land to big box stores or private golf courses if kept in the finalized budget bill.
“It's so vague right now, and so unclear and raises so many concerns that it's a little hard to know what that's gonna look like,” Paez said.
Despite widespread and sharp criticism of the proposal, Lee has claimed that the unprecedented sale of public land is meant to unleash American energy and spur affordable housing development.
Lee, in an X post on Tuesday, said that he is listening and wants to ensure that the land goes to American families.
“I’m working closely with the Trump administration to ensure that any federal land sales serve the American people – not foreign governments, not the Chinese Communist Party, and not massive corporations looking to pad their portfolios,” Lee wrote.
Republicans have signaled they want to pass President Donald Trump’s so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill” before a self-imposed deadline on July 4th.
