Rep. Jason Chaffetz has introduced H.R. 621 that will sell 3,368,278 acres of federal land, a total area that is slightly smaller than the state of Connecticut. The Tea Bag Republican who “represents” Utah’s 3rd congressional district giddily said in a press release that “in Utah, some 132,931 acres of land are eligible for disposal.”
In addition to Utah, nine other states will see their public lands sold off to private interests. According to Chaffetz’s list, those states are Arizona (453,950 acres), Colorado (93,741 acres), Idaho (110,022 acres), Montana (94,520 acres), Nebraska (6,615 acres), Nevada (898,460 acres), New Mexico (813,531 acres), Oregon (70,308 acres), and Wyoming (694,200 acres).
Outdoor Life reports that Chaffetz’s “bill seems to run in direct opposition” to the initiatives, Trump’s Interior Secretary appointee, Rep. Ryan Zinke of Monana, has supported.
In his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Zinke said: “I am absolutely against transfer and sale of public lands. I can’t be more clear.” In the hearing Zinke said he admired Gifford Pinchot’s (the first United States Forest Service chief) approach to public land, which called for multiple uses including recreation, grazing, mining, and logging.
This move accelerates the sell off public lands to private corporations and the wealthy. The Guardian reports that the privatization directive does not have to “generate revenue”:
Due to a controversial change this month to the House of Representatives’ rules, the sale does not have to make money for the federal government. A representative for the interior department, Mike Pool, who weighed in on a version of the bill in 2011, said selling those 3.3m acres “would be unlikely to generate revenue”.
Noting public Facebook opposition from Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Phesants Forever, Outdoor Life reports that Chaffetz plan to plunder America “has drawn strong opposition from sportsmen’s groups and conservation organizations.” More than 41,000 people have signed a petition against the “seizure of your public lands” at sportsmenaccess.org.
Scott Groene, a Utah conservationist, is quoted by The Guardian, explaining that elected officials are trying “seize public lands any way they can” without public notice.
Chaffetz is using a list of land compiled during a Clinton-era 1997 survey of potential offsets to revive the Florida Everglades, The Guardian, reports.
The actual language of the 1997 survey, which did not result in land being sold, prefaced its findings with a caution: “Please note many lands identified appear to have conflicts which may preclude them from being considered for disposal or exchange.”
The vast majority of the thousands of parcels have “impediments to disposal”, according to the survey, including hosting endangered species and wetlands or having “cultural significance”.
Three national monuments, created since the list was made, are part of the list of land Chaffetz wants to “dispose” of in his land grab. They are: the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, was created in Arizona in 2000 by President Clinton; and Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in New Mexico and Bear Ears National Monument in Utah, created by President Obama in 2014 and 2016 respectively.
If we lose these lands to private hands, we will never get them back intact.