A bill coming out of the United States Senate would put more than 250 million acres of public land up for sale — including wide swaths that surround Mount Rainier National Park.
The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee’s released its budget reconciliation bill on June 11 and updated it on June 14. This is a part of what’s been deemed the “One Beautiful Bill Act,” which also includes eliminating taxes on social security income, make new restrictions and requirements to be on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), cut energy tax cuts and, and end taxes on tips and overtime pay.
Eleven states would be affected by the proposed land sale — including about 5.4 million acres in Washington State. This proposal is being called “what is likely the largest single sale of national public lands in modern history” by The Wilderness Society.
Supporters of the bill have said these untapped lands are worth trillions and could increase housing, create jobs, boost domestic energy production, and offset tax breaks.
“Washington has proven time and again it can’t manage this land,” Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said to The Hill last week. “This bill puts it in better hands.”
This proposal has been met with resistance from both Democrats and Republicans — perhaps most importantly, House GOP members that cut a similar proposal from their version of the bill — but also conservationists and hunting groups that cast doubt on the land’s suitability for home construction.
“Shoving the sale of public lands back into the budget reconciliation bill, all to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, is a betrayal of future generations and folks on both sides of the aisle,” said Michael Carroll, a campaign director with The Wilderness Society.
The Wilderness Society also says the bill will sell land “at breakneck speed,” sets up states to lose bids to commercial interests, doesn’t give sovereign Native American tribes the right of first refusal, and doesn’t ensure that sold land will be used for housing purposes.
WA Sen. Patty Murray took to X to reproach the bill.
“Ever go skiing at Snoqualmie Pass? That’s for sale. Thinking about hiking at White Chuck Mountain? That’s for sale,” she wrote.
It’s unclear how much U.S. Forest Service Land around Mount Rainier National Park and Snoqualmie National Forest would be up for sale, though it’s a large amount: driving out of Enumclaw on 410, land sales would start at Greenwater and follow the highway until Chinook Pass.
This land includes Three Peaks, the Dalles Ridge, and maybe most recognizably, Crystal Mountain.
West of the pass, the Fifes Ridge area would also be on the market, as well as land surrounding Cliffdell and Pinecliff on the other side of the mountain.
The Courier-Herald has reached out to the Crystal Mountain Resort, which operates on national forest land, but did not receive an immediate response.
Senate Republicans have said no national parks or similar pieces of land would be affected by the proposed sale.
However, the introduction of this bill coincides with the Department of Justice opinion published June 10 that President Donald Trump’s administration has the authority to “alter” prior presidential national monument declarations.
“National monument lands may also be at risk from this proposal. In a Department of Justice opinion released last week, the Trump Administration dubiously claimed the unprecedented legal authority to revoke national monument protections,” The Wilderness Society says on its webpage. “If they were to attempt to follow through on this, another 13.5 million acres of our most cherished public lands could be threatened with sell-off.”