WASHINGTON, D.C. — After widespread public opposition, Sen. Mike Lee says he is withdrawing his controversial proposal to sell millions of acres of public lands.
The amendment to the national "Big, Beautiful Bill" could have made more than 18 million acres of land eligible for sale in Utah alone, across lands managed by both the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
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Lee later revised the proposal to remove Forest Service land from it, and to only include Bureau of Land Management property within five miles of "population centers."
On Saturday, Utah's Senior Senator announced that he is withdrawing the federal land sales from the bill completely.
"Because of the strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process," his statement read in part, "I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families—not to China, not to BlackRock, and not to any foreign interests."
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Lee said he has listened to members of the community, local leaders and "stakeholders" from across the country, and while he says there has been misinformation spread about his proposal, he admits that "many people brought forward sincere concerns."
"I'm grateful to everyone who took the time to offer thoughtful feedback. Your voices helped strengthen this bill, and they will continue to shape the path forward," he wrote.
Lee said Saturday that he still believes the federal government owns and is "mismanaging" too much land. He says he plans to work with President Donald Trump to "put underutilized federal land to work for American families ... in a way that respects the legacy of our public lands and reflects the values of the people who use them most."
“The nationwide, bipartisan backlash sparked by Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to sell off millions of acres of public land shows just how universally unpopular his idea is,” Scott Braden, the executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said in a statement Saturday night. “While we’re glad to see Senator Lee has removed his sell-off plan from the Budget Bill and are celebrating this win, we know Lee’s underlying goal remains the same: to force the sale of America’s public lands using any excuse or legislative opportunity he can find."
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