Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives struck down a move to sell off thousands of acres of public land across Utah and Nevada Wednesday night after immense pushback from conservationists, sportsmen and other groups who opposed the measure.
Rep. Celeste Maloy, also a Republican, proposed an amendment to President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ earlier this month that would have put about 11,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in fast-growing southwestern Utah up for sale. Maloy said the land could be used to build affordable housing and address water infrastructure concerns in her district.
But Texas Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington, in legislation called a “manager’s amendment,” struck Maloy’s move from the bill Wednesday night.
The newly amended bill then narrowly passed the full House. It now heads to the Senate.
Maloy said in a Thursday afternoon statement that she “worked hard with [her] colleagues in the House and locally elected officials to make sure that the one big, beautiful bill represented the unique needs of Utahns.”
“My lands amendment would have delivered critical relief to fast-growing communities in my district,” she continued. “Ultimately, it was removed from the reconciliation package. I still supported the bill, because it delivers a strong economy that will benefit Utah and the country as a whole. I will continue to fight for Utahns to responsibly manage federal lands that currently landlock our communities and hinder economic growth.”
Of the 35 million acres the federal government manages in Utah, the BLM manages 22.8 million acres.
“As we hoped would be the case, Rep. Maloy’s stunt failed. She’s just the latest in a long list of politicians with the bad idea to try and sell off public lands,” said Travis Hammill, the D.C. director for the environmental nonprofit Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, in a statement Wednesday night.
“The through line of those failed efforts is this: love of public lands transcends geography and political party,” he continued. “Americans don’t want to see these lands sold off and time and time again have risen up to make their voices heard.”
Earlier this month, the City of St. George praised Maloy’s proposed amendment, writing in a statement that it would “assist the City of St. George in securing properties that will be critical to our water infrastructure needs in the future.”
Nevada Republican Rep. Mark Amodei joined Maloy in proposing the amendment, which would also allow the sale of thousands of acres of public land in Utah’s neighboring state.
Rep. Susie Lee, a Nevada Democrat, called Maloy’s amendment a “Trojan horse Utah land grab” in her testimony before the House Rules Committee Wednesday night.
Lee said the move “jeopardize[d] Nevada’s water security and could very well derail sensitive and complicated negotiations about the future of the Colorado River.”
Environmentalists had raised concerns that the public land up for sale in Maloy’s amendment aligned with the path of the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, a long-stalled project that would transport water from the country’s second-largest reservoir to southwestern Utah.
The Western states that depend on the Colorado River, except Utah, oppose the pipeline. The Arizona Department of Water Resources reported the amendment was “a direct threat to Arizona’s water future,” per Axios.
