Grijalva blasts provision in House rules package making it easier to transfer public land ownership

The top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee blasted a provision in the proposed House rules package that would make it easier to transfer public lands, calling it an indication the new GOP majority intends to pursue a broadly pro-industry agenda.

The proposed rules package, made public Friday, includes a provision streamlining the process by which ownership of federal lands passes from the federal government to states or localities. The provisions are similar to those passed during the 115th Congress, the last session in which Republicans controlled the House, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told The Hill on Monday.

“The whole process of this rule is to devalue public land,” Grijalva said. “You’re basically handing [land] over to the industries, whichever they might be … and all the protections that are in place under federal law, in terms of siting those and getting permission for those [lands] disappears, and that changes the complexion of it completely.”

In 2019, after Democrats won control of the chamber, they passed a rules package undoing the earlier rule.

“It’s not good environmental policy, but I’m almost certain that this is going to be what we’re going to see from the [Natural] Resources Committee: blind loyalty to the oil industry, the mining industry and, in this case, trying to facilitate their access to and devaluing our own public land,” Grijalva added.

The initial rules package follows weeks of negotiations between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and the House GOP’s right flank, which voted down McCarthy’s nomination over a dozen times last week before voting to give him the gavel on the 15th ballot. Its passage in the current form remains uncertain, with at least one Republican, Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), vowing to oppose the package over concerns a spending-cap mechanism could lead to defense cuts.

“Republicans are committed to ensuring that federal land management best reflects the needs of the local people closest to these lands, and this provision is not a giveaway to private industry like Mr. Grijalva is claiming,” a spokesperson for presumptive Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) told The Hill in an email.

“It only applies to conveyances to other government entities and will ensure that the House can process legislation that will actually benefit the federal government by reducing maintenance costs and increasing tax revenues.”

This story was updated at 4:34 p.m.