Senator Mike Lee’s Public Lands Sell-Off Will Be Disastrous for Western Water Quality
Last week, Senator Mike Lee released a cynical and calamitous amendment to the Budget Bill which will fund the federal government for the next fiscal year. This proposal puts hundreds of millions of acres of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands across 11 western states up for sale to private owners.
This issue has been widely reported about for the past week, but few are discussing a significant disaster this sell-off would precipitate: the mass water pollution of watersheds throughout the American West. This problem would stem from the privatization of the protected headwaters of our watersheds as they’re surrendered to rampant industrial and commercial development.
This would increase surface water pollution on headwaters that provide water runoff for tens of millions of Americans downstream.
Water that runs into Colorado River Basin homes will be made vulnerable to pollutants from private industry and commercial development if the public lands sell-off proceeds. Image from: Matthew Bowden
The map of all the public land that Lee’s amendment would put up for auction includes immense mountain ranges, entire lakes, and significant portions of tributary rivers throughout the western U.S. Many of these areas account for large runoff volumes that refill reservoirs and aquifers for tens of millions of Americans from San Diego to Denver.
The Animas River in Colorado. This river is part of the Colorado River system, and significant portions of it run through the public lands Mike Lee intends to sell to private parties. Image from: Library of Congress
Among many other regions, this proposal targets the High Uintas and the Wasatch, areas which supply water for some 2+ million Utahns. The protected headwaters of the Bear River and the Green River are also proposed for sale, alongside many headwaters of the rest of the Colorado River Basin, which is home to 1 in 8 Americans. Other keystone watersheds jeopardized by the bill include the Salmon River, the Snake River, the Columbia River, the Animas River, and the San Juan River and other precious waters.
The north face of Mount Raymond in Millcreek Canyon. This section of Mount Raymond is included in Mike Lee’s sell-off package, making its invaluable snowmelt vulnerable to pollution from private development. Image from: Andrey Zharkikh
The lobbyists behind this disastrous proposal are hiding behind the vapid claim that it would help provide affordable housing. However, a variety of other solutions exist to offer affordable homes to Americans, none of which require the pollution of our water supplies or the destruction of the hospitality and recreation economies of the American West which depend on federal lands.
It’s also important to note that the amendment contains no guarantee that the sold land will be developed into low-cost homes. This makes it more likely that these public lands would be sold to the highest bidders, i.e. polluting industries. Enriching special interests hardly seems like a worthwhile cause for which we should sacrifice the water supplies for millions of Americans.
Unfortunately, once this land is sold to private parties, it will never be returned to the public’s hands, no matter how calamitous the sale proves for the environment, public recreation, local economies, or our drinking water. This makes it imperative that we act now. Contact your senator today and tell them in no uncertain terms to oppose Mike Lee’s public lands sell-off proposal.