A proposal to sell more than 10,000 acres of public land in southwest Utah didn’t make it into the “big, beautiful bill” that President Donald Trump has been pushing for.
The federal budget reconciliation bill squeaked by on a 215-214 vote in the House of Representatives, but the land sale amendment co-introduced by Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy was removed.
That was welcome news to conservation groups, who described the plan as an existential threat to the future of public lands across the West.
“We're thrilled with the outcome,” Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance Legal Director Steve Bloch said. “Maloy has learned a real painful lesson here, which is that Utahns care deeply about federal public lands in our state, and don't want to see them sold off.”
The amendment would have sold dozens of federal parcels to Washington County, the city of St. George and the Washington County Water Conservancy District. Local officials said the land would have been used primarily for roadways and water storage, although some pieces were also slated for development and outdoor recreation.
My full statement following the passage of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: pic.twitter.com/E0NCcxFDbx
— Rep. Celeste Maloy (@RepMaloyUtah) May 22, 2025
As the St. George area booms, Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow said the surrounding federal land restricts how local governments can build to meet the needs of their residents.
“We appreciate Congresswoman Maloy stepping up to go to bat for us and trying to help us alleviate some of that burden,” Snow said. But just “because the amendment went away, it doesn't mean the issue went away.”
The county plans to pursue an all-of-the-above approach to address its transportation and infrastructure goals, Snow said. That includes purchasing land outright and working with federal agencies to go through the regular permitting process to build on it.
“Would we look for an opportunity like this in the future for disposal, where we could just buy them and not have to deal with the federal government anymore? Yeah, that'd be great,” Snow said. “But we can't wait around forever for that.”
The fact that Maloy’s amendment didn’t make it through the House shows just how much of a political hot potato the issue is.
Bloch credited the amendment’s failure to both grassroots resistance and bipartisan opposition in Congress, including from Montana GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke and other members of the newly formed Public Lands Caucus.
“We're grateful that Rep. Zinke drew that line in the sand and said he would not support the sale of federal lands,” he said. “I do think that played a large role in ultimately turning the tide.”
While he is relieved that the land sale was stripped out, Bloch said the budget package is still “deeply troubling on many fronts.” Other conservation groups have expressed concerns that the Republicans’ priorities will ramp up oil drilling, logging and mining on public lands and end incentives that had encouraged people to transition away from fossil fuels.
For now, though, he’s cautiously optimistic the defeat of the proposed federal land sales will discourage lawmakers from trying anything similar in the future.
“Do I think that Maloy has been forever deterred from trying something like this? No,” Bloch said. “We're going to remain vigilant.”
