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Two weeks ago, a draft set of policy recommendations from the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee

was leaked to Politico. The new site described the document as a significant internal roadmap.

These ideas were meant to shape the Trump administration's budget, you know, help pay for it.

And the document included a number of proposals like new fees on natural gas

exports and expanded offshore drilling. But the most controversial item came from Utah Senator

Mike Lee. Lee had a plan to sell around 3 million acres of public land in 11 Western states and use that money to pay for affordable housing.

Now, conservation groups and public land advocates sounded the alarm right away. They said the plan could

set a dangerous precedent for selling off public land. And, of course, that reaction was expected,

but it turns out some members of

Lee's own party also spoke out. Kevin Lind of the Deseret News told us, as the story spread,

the backlash quickly gained momentum.

I think initially there wasn't a massive pile on about it.

It was more kind of public lands or back on the chopping block, so to speak.

But then the Wilderness Society got their hands on the bill.

And they started to take the restrictions that they found from the language in the bill

and apply them to BLM and Forest Service maps. They wound up finding out that 258 million acres met the criteria set forth by the Senate's Natural Resources Committee and Mike Lee's considerations.

A proposal to put public land up for sale across several Western states is drawing a lot of controversy.

Part of that would go toward the current housing crisis and a requirement for both the

Forest Service and the BLM each to increase timber sales.

Land would be drawn from roughly 258 million acres of land eligible for sale, according

to the nonprofit conservation organization, the Wilderness Society.

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