{"id":343719,"date":"2024-09-19T08:52:31","date_gmt":"2024-09-19T06:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=343719"},"modified":"2024-09-19T08:52:33","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T06:52:33","slug":"utah-seeks-the-transfer-of-18-5-million-acres-of-land-to-state-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=343719","title":{"rendered":"Utah seeks the transfer of 18.5 million acres of land to state control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From CFACT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the latest twist in a long-simmering conflict between Utah and the federal government, state officials filed a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to determine whether the Bureau of Land Management is legally authorized to indefinitely control 18.5 million acres of land in the state that has not been set aside by Congress for a specific use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In suing BLM and petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the case, Utah is pursuing an aggressive legal strategy to resolve the issue of \u201cunappropriated\u201d lands as quickly as possible.  The term \u201cunappropriated\u201d refers to lands the BLM manages in Western states, including Alaska, that are not designated as national parks, wildlife refuges, national forests, tribal lands, wilderness areas, recreational areas, or military bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday, we filed a historic lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether the federal government can simply hold unappropriated lands within a state indefinitely.  Nothing in the text of the Constitution authorizes such an inequitable practice,\u201d Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes said in a press release<\/a>.  \u201cIn fact, the Framers of the Constitution carefully limited federal power to hold land within the states. Current federal land policy violates state sovereignty and offends the original and most fundamental notions of federalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attorney general\u2019s reference to Utah\u2019s \u201cinequitable\u201d treatment is bolstered by data provided by the attorney general\u2019s office. \u201cThe federal government currently controls nearly 70 percent of the land in Utah,\u201d his office said.  \u201cIn comparison, the federal government owns less than 1 percent of the land in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island, and less than 3 percent of the land in Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 18.5 million acres in the Utah lawsuit represent 34 percent of the state\u2019s land. These lands contain rich deposits of minerals, hydrocarbons, and other resources, access to which is controlled by Washington bureaucrats, not elected officials in Utah. Other states in the West also are saddled with a vast federal estate that has frequently crippled economic growth in rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is obvious to all of us that the federal government has increasingly failed to keep our lands accessible and properly managed,\u201d Utah\u2019s Gov. Spencer Cox said<\/a> in announcing the lawsuit.  \u201cUtah deserves priority when it comes to managing this land. Utah is in the best position to understand and respond to the unique needs of our environment and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz pointed to BLM\u2019s recently published Public Lands Rule, which would effectively end the legally mandated practice of multiple uses of federal lands in favor of conservation (locking up natural resources) \u2014 as \u201cbeyond devastating for Utah.\u201d  The Salt Lake City Tribune reported that he also cited Washington\u2019s failures in controlling wildfires, protecting wildlife habitats, preventing floods, and managing water resources on public lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myron Ebell, the Utah-based American Lands Council chairman, praised<\/a> Utah\u2019s lawsuit.  \u201cUtah\u2019s important case has ramifications far beyond the state.  The Supreme Court\u2019s decision will apply to tens of millions of acres across the West and Alaska,\u201d he said in a news release.  \u201cUtah and other states have demonstrated over many decades that they are much better stewards of their state lands and wildlife than the federal government is of its vast federal estate.  The practical consequences of state and local management of these lands will be to improve environmental quality, increase recreational access, and provide better economic opportunities for rural Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Utah wins its case, the state will manage the former BLM land for mining, recreation, livestock grazing, and energy development through the Utah Department of Land Management. Although the lawsuit is limited to Utah, the precedent a favorable Supreme Court ruling would set could be followed by other Western states eager to wrest control of their natural resources from the feds. Gaining control of fossil-fuel resources at a time of growing demand for reliable energy would be a job- and revenue-producer for states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a policy is contained in the Rock Springs Resource Management Plan, which sets new conservation- and climate-oriented priorities<\/a> on 3.6 million acres (about 5,600 square miles) of BLM land in southwestern Wyoming. The decision on how the land will be used will be made in Washington, not in Wyoming, which is what the Utah lawsuit is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article originally appeared at D.C. Journal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the latest twist in a long-simmering conflict between Utah and the federal government, state officials filed a lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to determine whether the Bureau of Land Management is legally authorized to indefinitely control 18.5 million acres of land in the state that has not been set aside by Congress for a specific use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":343720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818148,691818670,691820943],"class_list":{"0":"post-343719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-state-control","9":"tag-supreme-court","10":"tag-utah","12":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0Utah-land.jpg?fit=2508%2C1672&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1rpR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":340579,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=340579","url_meta":{"origin":343719,"position":0},"title":"\u2018Egregious 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