Burgum in May. Photo: Samuel Corum / Sipa / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Trump administration is making progress in identifying public land it could sell off for housing, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday.
Why it matters: Selling public land is a controversial idea in the reconciliation bill that even some GOP lawmakers adamantly oppose.
Driving the news: Burgum told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the agency has identified 250,000 acres within a few miles of cities of at least 500,000 people.
- The focus is on "low-value" land adjacent to fast-growing population centers, primarily in Idaho, Alaska, Utah and Nevada.
- "We've got a lot of value trapped in land," Burgum said. Finding a small percentage of parcels to sell is a "great opportunity to help lower the cost of housing by being smart on a case-by-case basis."
- ENR Chair Mike Lee, who's been pressing for land sales, framed the issue as in line with President Trump's priorities and called federal land a "massive underutilized asset."
Yes, but: The agency is also confronting enormous challenges in gathering enough data to make decisions, Burgum told ENR Ranking Member Martin Heinrich.
- "The systems that we have make it almost impossible to get information," Burgum said. "It's going to be difficult to make great decisions quickly."
- Heinrich responded: "We need a plan [addressing] what sites are being considered."
What's next: ENR's reconciliation bill text — due out any time — will show any possible deal reached between Lee and opponents of public-land sales.
