Ian Brickey, ian.brickey@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The final House version of the Republican reconciliation package will not include mandates to sell potentially hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands in the West. Other public land provisions, such as advancing the Ambler mining road in Alaska, controversial provisions affecting the Western Arctic, and rollbacks to land use plans were also stricken from the bill.
Wednesday evening, Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled the final version of their sprawling budget, energy, and border bill. A controversial amendment from Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) was not included in the draft. Amodei’s amendment was added during a midnight markup earlier this month. As written, the amendment would have called for the privatization of potentially hundreds of thousands of acres in Nevada and Utah, some of it located outside of the lines of Amodei’s district.
House members on both sides of the aisle came out in opposition to the provision. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) threatened to vote against the bill if the public lands sale was included in the text.
While the bill does not include explicit sales of public lands, it still contains numerous provisions offering handouts to corporate polluters, including cutting royalty rates to levels dating to the 1920s, and allowing companies to pay fees in exchange for fast tracking proposed energy projects with minimal environmental review.
In response, Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, released the following statement:
“The American people have spoken loud and clear – our public lands should not be for sale. Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle were right to throw this proposal in the trash can, but a bad bill is still a bad bill. As written, Donald Trump’s reconciliation package is a giveaway to corporate polluters that would make it easier for billionaires to drill, mine, and log the public lands that belong to all Americans, from the Arctic Refuge to the desert landscapes of the southwest. We will continue to work to keep the ‘public’ in public lands and make sure that big corporations pay their fair share.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.