Senator Harriet Hageman (R-Wyoming) wrote a column last week asking readers to view the controversial bill that includes selling off federal public lands for housing development. I read through the text of this bill, a.k.a. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee legislative text, and it’s even worse than depicted.
The section describing federal land sales, a.k.a. Mandatory Disposal, fails to define how much acreage can be bought by one person and gives special privileges to potential buyers who already own surrounding tracts of land. I believe these provisions are a gift to particular interests and that it’s just a matter of time before Montana gets added to the list of designated states.
The One Big Beautiful Deficit-Raising Bill is especially generous to the fossil fuel industry. It sets a minimum number of annual oil and gas leases in western states, including Montana. Sort of like cops making an arrest quota. The bill assumes unlimited amounts of natural resources to be plundered.
For oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico, a.k.a. Gulf of America, the Secretary of the Interior is forced to offer “not fewer than 80,000,000 acres for each offshore lease sale conducted under subsection (a)(1).”
For Alaska oil and gas sales, the Secretary must offer 1,000,000 acres per lease sale. Environmental review under N.E.P.A., a.k.a. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, would be suspended for projects on the Outer Continental Shelf and replaced by a record of decision issued in 2016 during Trump’s first term in office.
I’m not making up this stuff, it’s in the bill.
Throughout Montana, lumber mills and the wood products industry have declined and will need time, expertise, and resources to rebuild. But these realities will not temper the enthusiasm for Republicans to flood markets with subsidized timber and “get the cut out,” a.k.a. unregulated clearcuts.
As currently written, the Big Beautiful Deficit Bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to make ever-increasing timber sales for the next eigh years, without consideration for the environment, industrial capacity, or technical support. Here’s the text:
“For each of the fiscal years 2026 through 2034, the Secretary shall sell timber annually on National Forest System land in a total quantity that is not less than 250,000,000 board-feet greater than the quantity of board feet sold in the previous fiscal year.”
The same method applies to the Bureau of Land Management which is better known for grazing land rather than timber. The BLM is directed to sell 20,000,000 board-feet more than each previous year for the same time span. The BLM must sign at least five long-term timber contracts, a.k.a. 20+ year contracts, while the Forest Service is required to sign no fewer than 40 long-term contracts.
Here in western Montana, the Nature Conservancy is transferring ownership of vast acreage in the Gold Creek, Belmont Creek, Blanchard Creek, and Garnet Range areas. The Bureau of Land Management is taking ownership of these properties. Given the requirements of the Big Beautiful Deficit Bill, perhaps this land transfer should be reconsidered.
There may be other projects and collaborations involving Trout Unlimited, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, American Prairie and other nonprofits that will need to be reconsidered if the Big Deficit Bill should pass.
There’s one more insult to the injuries contained in this bill. Near the end are provisions for the Secretary of the Interior to spend $40,000,000 building Trump’s National Garden of American Heroes. The Secretary is also authorized to spend $150,000,000 for events and celebrations surrounding the United States’ 250th anniversary. No details on whether this includes military fly-overs and tanks.
The natural resources bill is just one component of the Republican Big Deficit Bill. Corresponding parts of this comprehensive legislation will also lead to millions of Americans losing health coverage, the elimination of Head-Start, reduction in S.N.A.P. benefits, a.k.a. food stamps, and innumerable cuts to education and research grants, Medicaid, housing programs, etc. The One Big Beautiful Deficit Bill is expected to raise the federal deficit by $2.3 trillion dollars or more. ts primary beneficiaries are billionaires and multi-millionaires who will receive the largest tax break in history. The selling off of public lands is just a fraction of the threat caused by this Republican degeneracy.
David Daniels lives in Missoula.