Friday, March 27, 2009

ENVIRONMENT - Wilderness Protection

"U.S. House passes massive wilderness bill" by Matt Canham, Salt Lake Tribune

The House signed off Wednesday on legislation that protects more than a quarter-million acres of Utah's redrock country, allows St. George more land to expand and tamps down an often-contentious battle between developers and environmentalists.

The Washington County lands bill was just one of about 170 conservation proposals rolled into a huge package that gained final congressional approval on a vote of 285 to 140. Utah's Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson voted for the measure and GOP Reps. Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz opposed it. The legislation now goes to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it.

The package designates more than 2 million acres in nine states as wilderness, the largest expansion of wilderness protection in 25 years. It included a number of Utah-specific proposals, but none with more impact than the Washington County bill crafted by Matheson and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah.

"This is a great win for Utah," Matheson said. "It shows that if everyone sticks with it and comes to the table with good ideas you can reach consensus."

The bill, which is five years in the making, allows the Interior Department to sell between 5,000 and 9,000 acres of non-sensitive land for development around the St. George area, while designating 256,000 acres as wilderness, making it off limits to future oil exploration, roads or buildings.

This tenuous agreement has support among county leaders and environmentalists who were at odds for years over the specifics.

"It is very nice to see this come out of so much contention to a successful result," said Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. "We are excited and pleased to see these lands get the protection they deserve."

Washington County Commissioner James Eardley hopes this vote means "we can quit arguing back and forth" over what land is protected and what land is not. The legislation will allow the county's fast growing cities more land to expand, increasing the tax base.

"It is not the same bill we started out with, but it is enough like it that we feel pretty good," Eardley said.

An early version would have protected only 90,000 acres, and would sell off 25,000 acres of federal land, allowing the county to use the proceeds for regular county business. That sparked loud protests from Utah's environmental community.

The final version protects three times the original amount and drops the acres that can be sold from 25,000 to about 6,000. Any money the government receives from the land sales must be spent on protecting other sensitive lands within Washington County.

Bennett, a Utah Republican, called this the most contentious issue he has dealt with in his U.S. Senate career. But those involved hope it can act as a starting point for future land use bills in Utah, either in individual counties or by region.

"The Washington County process is something we can continue to build upon," said Chaffetz.

Bishop and Chaffetz say they support the Utah-related provisions but were upset with the process Democrats used to get the bill through Congress and legislation involving other states.

"You have hidden all the bad stuff among the good things," Bishop said, who is the sponsor of two provisions in the package. He blasted the bill for what he sees as the government continuing to take away Western lands from potential commercial or energy development, limiting the tax base.

Chaffetz criticized portions that would protect lands that could hold valuable energy reserves, particularly in Wyoming.

Only 38 Republicans voted for the bill, which made it to Wednesday's final vote because of some congressional gamesmanship by Democrats, who wanted to avoid an avalanche of Republican amendments.

In its first attempt, the House came two votes shy of passing the bill without amendments, such as Bishop's proposal to allow guns in National Parks. Democrats in the Senate then gutted an unrelated House bill, loading it up with the land and water proposals, before sending it back to the House. This move allowed Democrats to pass the bill on a simple up or down vote.

"It is an amazing procedural game to stifle discussion," said Bishop, the ranking Republican on the parks and public lands subcommittee.

Matheson said the package wasn't passed in "a perfect process" but in the end it received bipartisan votes in both Houses.

"I think that speaks for itself," he said.

This is a step away from the policies of "dig, drill, road-over, and build anywhere" for profit. A step away from the idea that nothing is sacred but greed.

No comments: