Oppose the Sale of Public Lands in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" Act - PASSED HOUSE (UPDATED 5/22)

Updates

May 22, 2025: With a 214-215 vote, the House narrowly passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act, H.R. 1, with all Democrats and two Republicans, – Massie (KY) and Davidson (OH) – voting against it. The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration. Notably, the amendment authorizing the sale of public land in Nevada and Utah was removed. However, many other provisions remain that will boost land sales to fossil fuel companies.

Republicans are advancing their partisan budget reconciliation bill to cut over $4 trillion dollars in federal spending to fund tax cuts for the wealthy and mass deportations. On May 6th, the House Natural Resources committee amended and passed their portion of the reconciliation bill that includes widespread reversals of environmental review protocols and new authorizations for fossil fuel, mining, and timber companies to lease public lands for production.

The bill mandates new drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico and resumes leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge of Alaska. It calls for 4 million acres of new coal leasing and a 25% increase in logging. A late-night amendment also specifically authorized the sale of roughly 11,000 acres of public lands in Utah and hundreds of thousands more in Nevada. Other provisions sweeten the deal for companies by offering discounts on leases and “expedited” environmental reviews that will allow them to more easily skirt regulations and avoid public oversight.

This set of budget plans makes it clear that Republicans and the Trump administration see our public lands as meaningless property they can greedily hand off to the fossil fuel industry and other private enterprises for profit. Demand your members of Congress oppose this reconciliation bill and block the sale of public lands to drillers, miners, and loggers. Public lands are for the American people, not billionaires and corporations.