On its first day, the newly seated Republican-controlled Congress passed a rules package - with the vote of a single Democrat - that has public lands advocates worried.
That package is full of yawn-inducing, technical language. But one paragraph states that a transfer of federal land to state, local or tribal governments “shall not be considered as providing new budget authority, decreasing revenues, increasing mandatory spending, or increasing outlays.” That means, as reported by the New York Times, that such land is basically without monetary value. Similar rules were also approved in 2017 and 2023.
That language is stoking fears among some environmental groups that the rule could ease the transfer of public lands to states - and possibly lead to their privatization. Rob Mason, the Wilderness Society’s Idaho director, said the Gem State would likely not be able to afford to manage that land.
“What does that mean?” he said. “The way to afford to manage some of the lands is to sell others. That is the real revenue generator.”
Managing the vast tracts of public land in Idaho and elsewhere in the West is expensive. Data collected by the Congressional Research Service in 2013 showed that in the previous fiscal year, several hundred million dollars were appropriated to three federal agencies for their land management work in Idaho.
In response to a request for comment on concerns raised by the Wilderness Society, the office of Simpson - who voted for the package - said the Idaho Republican would work to “ensure that land management agencies are good neighbors and have the tools to manage our lands effectively and efficiently.”
Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, told the Times that environmentalists are spreading fear about the rule’s potential effects.
“We’re not talking about transferring Canyonlands National Park to the state,” Sgamma told the paper.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
