Federal Land Sales, More Logging and More Oil Revenue: What’s in the Big Federal Bill for Alaska?

Members of the U.S. Senate last week proposed a major sale of federal land as part of the “Big, Beautiful Bill” proposed by Republicans to fund the U.S. government.

If adopted, the proposed sale could be significant for Alaska, where the federal government owns and manages 61% of all land in the state.

Under language proposed by the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service would be required to sell between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of public land across 11 Western states, including Alaska.

National parks and monuments would be off limits to sale, but wide swaths of Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land would still be available.

The proposed language states that the sold land “shall be used solely for the development of housing or to address associated community needs,” and that the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture can determine whether the sold land is being used for an appropriate purpose. (Read more from “Federal Land Sales, More Logging and More Oil Revenue: What’s in the Big Federal Bill for Alaska?” HERE)

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