In a new four-year strategic plan released this week, the Interior Department said it aims to sell off some portion of the nation’s more than 500 million acres of federal land.
In an introduction to the plan, Interior Secretary Doug Bergum called for the “sustainable use” of public lands, so to “improve lives and create opportunity.”
“Timber, grazing, geothermal energy, hydropower, outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing, mining, oil and gas and more contribute mightily to every facet of American life,” Bergum wrote. “As President Theodore Roosevelt, who helped shape and define our department, explained: ‘Conservation means development as much as it does protection.’”
The plan states that the Interior Department “will work to decrease the size of the federal estate by offering to states, localities and Tribes the opportunity to purchase federal lands.” Doing so will allow the department to focus on “primary federal responsibilities and nationally significant federal lands.”
The plan also states that the department will no longer use the Land and Water Conservation Fund to purchase more land. The fund receives $900 million per year from Congress, and the money will now be used to create “access easements on privately owned lands.”
A major shift in policy: The new emphasis on development marks a major change in how the federal government interprets its mandate to manage public lands.
“This is the first time ever the Department of the Interior has made selling off and giving away public lands an official goal,” Michael Carroll of the Wilderness Society told Public Domain, which covers environmental news. He added: “While the plan may be unprecedented and a terrible idea, it fits perfectly with the administration’s push to pass the permitting bill, which will enable reckless drilling, mining and data center development on our public lands at the expense of future generations.”
Rep. Jared Huffman, the senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said the plan is “straight out of Secretary Burgum’s vulture capitalist playbook. He looks at our public lands and sees a balance sheet — nothing more than tradeable assets and potential profits.”
Conservative groups offered a more favorable interpretation. “It’s encouraging that they’re proposing trying to sell this land,” Arthur Gailes of the American Enterprise Institute told the Washington Sun. “They are correct in their basic assessment that the federal government could scale back its land holdings a tremendous amount and generate revenue for the federal government.”
More changes ahead: Whatever the merits of the plan, it may soon receive some serious pushback from Congress. Huffman is expected to take over the House Natural Resources Committee in January and has said lawmakers plan to look into Bergum’s plans.
“Americans love their public lands and sent a clear message last week: The Trump administration’s schemes to auction off our treasured resources and silence opposition must stop now,” Huffman said. “Democrats in Congress are going to deliver.”