Late-night amendment adds public lands sell-offs to drilling and mining giveaways in budget bill

WASHINGTON D.C. (May 7, 2025) —  A budget reconciliation bill was passed by the House Natural Resources Committee with a last-minute amendment that sells off public lands in Nevada and Utah, adding to a host of giveaways to drilling and mining interests.

The bill includes forced leasing in iconic places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Boundary Waters watershed, plus massive reductions in oil and gas drilling returns to taxpayers. It would also allow special interests to effectively buy their way out of public input and legal scrutiny when launching new development projects that might harm the environment.  

Chase Huntley, vice president of federal policy at The Wilderness Society, made the following statement about the contents of the bills:  

“This is a very dark night for the American people. The House Natural Resources Committee just approved a budget reconciliation bill that will dramatically expand drilling and sell off public lands to fund tax cuts for the richest people in the country. It also dramatically expands mining and logging, strips protections for iconic places and crushes NEPA, a bedrock environmental law.

The House Natural Resources Committee just approved a budget reconciliation bill that will dramatically expand drilling and sell off public lands to fund tax cuts for the richest people in the country. 

Even more galling is the way this was done. With taxpayers worried about an uncertain economic future, and the nation already producing more oil and gas than ever before, Republicans on this committee spent nearly all of Tuesday with their mouths shut, playing games with the legislative process and avoiding debate on substantive concerns. Then tonight, when they thought nobody was watching, they offered a provision to sell off public lands, an idea that has continually proven wildly unpopular. 

We are grateful to the many Democratic members of the Committee, led by Ranking Member Huffman, who fought for our public lands through more than 100 amendments aimed at addressing the devastating impacts of this legislation. Regrettably, none passed. The full House must now reject this singularly destructive and un-American bill.”

Contact: max_greenberg@tws.org | newsmedia@tws.org