SANTA FE, N.M. • Before scheduled sessions got underway at the annual Western Governors’ Association conference in Santa Fe on Monday, Democratic governors, including Colorado’s Jared Polis, emphasized their opposition to a federal proposal to sell some public lands, while Republican heads of state are more amenable to the idea. 

In its latest twist, the plan to sell more than 2 million acres of federal lands has been ruled out of Republicans’ budget bill after the Senate parliamentarian determined the proposal by Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee would violate the chamber’s rules.

Lee, a Utah Republican, has said he wants the lands sold for housing or infrastructure. 

The land sales are part of the spending bill, which the U.S. House already approved and which is currently being debated in the U.S. Senate.

At a press conference, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she is adamantly against the proposal, calling it “problematic.”

Polis told reporters it “would be a devastating blow.”

Republican governors attending the conference in Santa Fe are more open to the idea. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon stressed it would require more state involvement and input.

“On a piece-by-piece basis, where states have the opportunity to craft policies that make sense … we can actually allow for some responsible growth in areas with communities that are landlocked at this point,” he told reporters on Monday.

A fact sheet released by Lee’s committee last week said that selling off government-owned land would “increase the supply of housing and decrease housing costs for millions of American families.”

Lee also said in a June 11 video that the bill would turn “federal liabilities into taxpayer value,” adding, “Washington has proven time and again it can’t manage this land. This bill puts it in better hands.”

North Carolina Gov. Kelly Armstrong said while his state is not as affected by the proposal, he understands his colleagues’ worries. 

“The original proposal was just too broad,” he said. 

A large group of protesters surrounded the El Dorado Hotel, where the conference is being held. Lujan Grisham said she welcomed the protest, as long as it stayed peaceful.

While the protest was expected to take place while Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum was slated to address the governors, the shouting could be heard later in the day, even as Polis posed questions to Linda McMahon, Trump’s appointed Secretary of Education, during a discussion.

Before the conference, more than 100 groups sent a letter, urging the 22 governors from the most western states and territories to reject the land sale proposal entirely.

Delivered to governors at the Santa Fe conference, Laiken Jordahl, the Southwest conservation advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in the letter, “Every western governor should publicly oppose this reckless proposal and pledge that their states won’t participate in dismantling our public lands if this monstrosity becomes law.”

In a joint, bipartisan statement on Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Jeff Hurd, a Republican, and Joe Neguse, a Democrat, said, “Colorado’s public lands belong to the people and are held in trust for future generations. They don’t belong to political appointees or outside interests. Neither of our districts asked for this land sale, and any efforts to sell off these shared spaces are deeply unpopular with the hunters, ranchers, fishermen, recreationists, conservationists, and outdoor enthusiasts we are proud to represent in Congress.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.