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State trust lands agency reports $130 million revenue, highlights geothermal, coal and industrial development
Summary
The State School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration told lawmakers it generated nearly $130 million in FY 2024 for beneficiaries, described new geothermal exploration acreage and cited the Fossil Rock coal mine and Fort Pierce industrial park as recent successes.
Michelle McConkie, director of the State School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA), told the appropriations subcommittee that the agency, which manages land and mineral assets for school beneficiaries, produced nearly $130 million in revenue in fiscal year 2024 and distributed roughly $112 million to beneficiaries (about $106 million to public schools).
McConkie said SITLA manages about 3.3 million surface acres and about 4.5 million acres of mineral estate (minerals remain with the trust even when surface land is conveyed). The agency reported about 6,000 active contracts and roughly 10,000 individual parcels administered across the state.
At the committee, SITLA described energy and minerals as the agency's primary revenue source over the last two decades. McConkie highlighted newer activity in geothermal (SITLA reported more than 41,000 acres under exploration agreements), ongoing oil and gas leasing (about 900 active leases on roughly 500,000 acres), and the Fossil Rock coal mine, which the agency said will contribute royalties and jobs as production scales. She said the Fossil Rock development could raise several million dollars in royalties over coming years and create hundreds of jobs as operations expand.
McConkie also described the agency’s real-estate work: master-planned communities and an industrial park in St. George (Fort Pierce) that produced about $14 million in new trust revenue in the last fiscal year and has supported new construction and employment. She noted an upcoming federal land exchange (the Dingle exchange) that would bring roughly 90,000 acres of new trust lands across multiple counties if closing proceeds.
On agency requests, SITLA asked for modest, self-funded increases: stewardship enforcement funding, a staff position to lead a land‑valuation/strategic‑mapping project, funding for an internal auditor, an operations managing director to oversee a major land‑management computer upgrade, and statutory performance funding adjustments for merit increases. SITLA said all requests would be paid from trust revenues and not the state general fund.
