June 11, 2025 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SUWA Statement on Secretary Burgum confirming Senator Lee’s Public Lands Sell-off Amendment in Senate Budget Bill – 6.11.25
Contacts:
Travis Hammill, DC Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (202) 266-0472; travis@suwa.org
Grant Stevens, Communications Director, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA); (319) 427-0260; grant@suwa.org
Washington, DC – Today, during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Hearing on the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) FY 2026 Budget, DOI Secretary Burgum confirmed that Senator Lee (R-UT) plans to introduce a Public Lands Sell-off Amendment into the FY25 Budget Reconciliation Bill currently being considered by the Senate. According to Secretary Burgum’s testimony, the Amendment could require DOI to offer up approximately 2 million acres of public land across Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Alaska for sale. Background information and a statement from SUWA DC Director Travis Hammill can be found below.
“Senator Lee’s deep hostility towards public lands makes him a true outlier in the Senate and with his fellow Americans. Secretary Burgum’s confirmation that Lee intends to propose the sale of millions of acres of public land through the Budget Bill is wildly out of step with what Americans have made clear that they want to see: federal public lands remaining in public hands,” said Travis Hammill, DC Director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. “These are the places people recreate with their families, they are places to hunt and fish, and they are held in trust for the American people to enjoy for generations to come. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, our members, and our partners will work to defeat this deeply misguided effort.”
Background information:
A similar amendment was introduced by Mark Amodei (R-NV-2) and Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT-2) during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on May 6th, 2025. The House version of the amendment would have forced the sell-off of over 11,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) managed public land in Utah and at least 500,000 acres in Nevada. The Committee voted 23-18 to allow this amendment and ultimately voted along party lines in favor of the entire bill. The amendment was removed from the Bill prior to its passage in the full House on May 21th.
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The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) is a nonprofit organization with members and supporters from around the country dedicated to protecting America’s redrock wilderness. From offices in Moab, Salt Lake City, and Washington, DC, our team of professionals defends the redrock, organizes support for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, and stewards this world-renowned landscape. Learn more at www.suwa.org.
