Nevada and Utah Groups Oppose Public Land Sell-Off Plan

Nevada and Utah residents are opposing an amendment passed by the House Natural Resources Committee which would open up tens of thousands of acres of public lands for sale, reports Wyatt Myskow for Inside Climate News. Two amendments added to the budget reconciliation bill last minute would sell over 500,000 acres in the two states to housing developers.

According to Myskow, “Opponents say the amendments would fuel unsustainable growth across Nevada and southern Utah that would not provide affordable housing, but would threaten tribal sovereignty by disposing of public lands bordering the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, take more water out of the already declining Colorado River and set a path for the federal government to begin the sell-off of public lands across the country.”

Mathilda Miller, the government relations director for Native Voters Alliance Nevada, warned that “If this land grab goes through quietly, they’ll use the same exact playbook somewhere else.”

The amendments do not include the protections offered by the proposed Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, which many Nevadas and Utahns do support. There is also no provision requiring new housing to be affordable. “On top of that, building on public lands, often in remote areas away from major urban centers, like the lands proposed near Las Vegas, would expand sprawl, forcing more people to commute long distances to and from work,” says Olivia Tanager, the director of the Sierra Club’s Toiyabe Chapter.