Utah lawmaker’s resolution reaffirms push for public lands

SALT LAKE CITY >> Days after the outdoor recreation industry yanked a lucrative expo from Utah to protest the state’s public lands policy, state lawmakers are reaffirming their push to gain control of public lands from the U.S. government.

Lawmakers are set to consider a resolution this week stipulating that if Congress or the White House do not make major moves to hand over control of public lands to Utah by December, then the state should take the issue directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The resolution was originally scheduled for a Wednesday hearing but Orem Republican Rep. Keven Stratton, who sponsors the legislation, said he’s working on an amendment and expects his bill will be debated Friday. Stratton said the amendment would make it clear that the decision to file a lawsuit ultimately rests with the attorney general’s office.

His proposal comes on the heels of a resolution lawmakers passed this month urging President Donald Trump to repeal the newly-named Bears Ears National Monument. Organizers of the lucrative Outdoor Retailer show said last week that it was the final straw, capping years of Utah policies that they said jeopardized the preservation of public lands. They announced that their expo, bringing about $45 million in direct spending to the state each year, would be leaving Utah for a location that matches their values.

Stratton’s resolution makes it clear that Utah lawmakers aren’t backing down, said Chris Saeger, the executive director of Western Values Project, a Montana-based environmental group that’s been critical of Utah’s land demand efforts.

“I think the fact that this resolution is coming up right after the trade show left town should be a clear sign that they’re willing to shoulder on despite the consequences to Utah’s economy,” Saeger said.

The new resolution does not specify what steps Congress would need to take before Utah sues for public lands, only calling for “satisfactory federal legislative and executive progress.”

Stratton said progress in Congress would include something like passage or progress on a wide-reaching public lands plan from U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, which has stalled.

Gov. Gary Herbert’s office in a statement said the office has not reviewed Stratton’s most recent draft of the resolution but the governor will not sign anything that lays out a specific date for filing a lawsuit. Herbert, a Republican, has said in the past that he sees a lawsuit as one possible path to get Utah more control but he’d prefer to see action in Congress.

Utah has floated the idea of filing a lawsuit against the U.S. government to gain control of federal lands since 2012, when Herbert and the Legislature passed a law demanding control of about 30 million acres.

Critics contend Utah has no claim to the land and point out that the Legislature’s own lawyers warned a lawsuit was unlikely to succeed. A team of lawyers hired by the Legislature to draft potential legal arguments said the state could make a credible argument but it’s not a slam dunk and could cost up to $14 million.

Parker Douglas, the chief federal deputy in the Utah attorney general’s office, said Wednesday that the office is waiting for a copy of a draft lawsuit that lawmakers asked their outside legal team to come up with. There’s no timeline for when that draft will be finished, but Douglas said the office will decide after that whether they’ll take the issue to court.

The legal theories that the attorneys and others have floated so far include strong arguments and weak ones, Douglas said, “but I do think that there are legitimate legal bases to advance the case.”