Many opponents to the Transfer of Public Lands say "states in the West can't get their lands back. They were offered the lands before and didn't want them." As Ken Ivory says: "This is a half of a half-truth."

The real answer is that in the 1930's the states in the West were offered the surface rights to their lands...only the surface rights. This meant that all the mineral wealth would stay in the hands of the federal government. The states in the West refused to accept this, instead demanding that the entire promise be kept to dispose of public lands. 

In the video attached ALC President Ken Ivory goes into more details about this half-offer. I encourage you to watch it so that you can fully understand the background of this misconception.