UTAH: State ramps up lands fight as deadline passes

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UTAH: State ramps up lands fight as deadline passes

Greenwire: Monday, January 5, 2015

Utah's effort to wrestle 31 million acres of public land away from the federal government is gearing up this week after the Department of the Interior failed to meet a deadline set by the state.

Arguing that Utah could better manage the land and be able to profit off it, the state Legislature passed a law in 2012 requiring Interior to transfer the public lands by Dec. 31, 2014.

The federal government did not comply with the request, setting the stage for Utah to file a lawsuit.

Lawmakers have already set aside $2 million for the attorney general to pursue a suit now that the deadline has passed. If Utah wins control over the land, the $280 million cost of managing the area will likely need to be supported by oil and gas leases.

Interior spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw said Secretary Sally Jewell "has made it clear that it's a waste of time and resources" for Utah to try to take over the land (AP/Fuel Fix, Jan. 3). -- AW

 

[David_Bricker]

Not wanting to get into the political pros and cons, but if it's costing the feds $280 Million a year to manage this land, and Utah expects to pay for this using oil and gas leases, are these new leases on this land? Or will Utah expect to retain a larger portion of existing leases.

I understand Utah wants to manage the land themselves; I just don't understand how they plan to pay for that management without exploiting this land more than it is today.

David Bricker / SYR