League urges Senate to remove dangerous anti-conservation provisions for reconciliation package

To prevent irreparable damage to the nation’s natural resources, the  Izaak Walton League is calling on the U.S. Senate to take dangerous anti-conservation measures out of the budget reconciliation package.

After hearing an uproar from hunters and anglers, outdoor recreationists, and conservationists of all stripes, the House of Representatives removed dangerous language calling for the disposal of up to 1.5 million acres of federal public lands in Utah and Nevada from its budget reconciliation bill before passing it on May 22. To be sure, this bill still contains many troublesome measures, including:

  • Reversal of a long-standing 20-year mineral withdrawal in the Superior National Forest, putting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness at risk;
  • Revisions to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that short-circuit environmental oversight and diminish protections for public access, wildlife habitat, and water quality while fast-tracking large scale projects and eliminating the public’s right to judicial review;
  • Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to onshore and offshore oil drilling;
  • Gutting incentives that have helped drive more than $630 billion in clean energy investment by businesses and consumers over just the past three years;
  • Rollbacks of land management plans that affect millions of acres across the Western United States
  • Deep cuts to conservation funding for federal land management agencies.

“This legislation is still deeply flawed, but the League couldn’t be prouder of Ikes and other conservationists across the country rallying to protect public lands by demanding removal of public lands giveaways from the House version of the bill,” said League conservation director Jared Mott.

“Time and again, sportsmen and women have led Americans to draw this line in the sand: Keep public lands in public hands, and this was just another example. We need to focus that same energy on getting the rest of the dangerous anti-conservation measures still in this package removed in the Senate.”