A revised plan from Senate Republicans would sell off as much as 1.2 million acresof publicly owned lands, according to legislative text obtained by The Hill.
The updated text would require the sales of between 0.25 and 0.5 percent of the 245 million acres currently owned by the Bureau of Land Management, or between 612,500 and 1.225 million acres.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), is spearheading the plan, which would be included in the GOP’s megabill to advance much of President Trump’s agenda.
Lee has said he would revise his original plan, which would have sold off between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres, after the Senate parliamentarian ruled it could not go inside the party’s budget package.
Lee’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
The text obtained by The Hill only pertains to Bureau of Land Management lands, complying with Lee’s promise to ax provisions in his original bill that would have also included National Forests.
The updated version also makes further changes: It specifies that land that is sold must be used “solely for the development of housing or to address any infrastructure and amenities to support local needs associated with housing.
It also requires land sold to be within 5 miles of the “the border of a population center.”
Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, I’m Rachel Frazin — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) was taken to a Washington-area hospital Wednesday after becoming lightheaded at the Senate gym during the morning.
A federal judge on Tuesday issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration from withholding funds for electric vehicle charger infrastructure from 14 states.
The nearly 40-square-mile site was first developed in the late 1960s with plans to become a major hub, but the project fizzled because of environmental concerns, leaving just a single strip that has been used as a training site and for rare general aviation needs.
President Trump on Wednesday called for the firing of CNN correspondent Natasha Bertrand, who reported on air an internal U.S. intelligence assessment that found Saturday’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites set back Tehran’s nuclear program by only a few months. Read more
