Last night (Saturday, June 28), Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) announced he was withdrawing his scheme to sell off public lands as part of the Budget Bill currently being considered by the Senate. This comes after he tried modifying his proposal several different times (the final version focused on over a million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in 11 states) and each time faced universal, bipartisan backlash from Americans from all walks of life. Thank you to each and every one of you who reached out to your senators—whether it was a phone call, email, postcard, or social media post. This is a moment to celebrate!

I’d like to make two other important points.

First, while we’re excited that the Public Lands Sell-off has been removed, the Budget Bill is still deeply anti-conservation and anti-public-lands. It opens up vast tracts of wild public land across the West and Alaska to new oil and gas drilling and attempts to kill the American clean energy economy by gutting clean energy incentives for wind and solar power. Alongside these and other awful provisions, the bill will harm our society’s most vulnerable and at-risk populations, all to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. I encourage you to continue to reach out to your senators in opposition to the Budget Bill—which they are debating today (yes, on a Sunday).

Second, though this sell-off attempt has been defeated, we know Senator 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. We also know his vision for the American West as a place without public lands is wildly out of touch with what Americans want. Moving forward, SUWA, our members, and our partners will work tirelessly to defeat any future efforts to sell off our shared public lands for private profit and exploitation. We’ll undoubtedly be calling on you to take action, make your voice heard, and stand up for public lands many more times in the future. Thank you in advance for your support—I know that together, our Protect Wild Utah movement will rise to the occasion.

Before I head outdoors to celebrate, I’m calling my senator to oppose the Budget Bill. I hope you’ll do the same.

For public lands,

Scott Braden
Executive Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance