A proposal to severely restrict public access to nearly one-fifth of all land in Utah, spearheaded by a liberal New York congressman and an environmental group chaired by a Swedish multimillionaire, is beginning to move forward in the U.S. Congress. But a Western coalition is now working to build opposition to the legislation from other states, and is predicting success.
The bill, known as the "America's Red Rocks Wilderness Act," is sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a liberal Democratic congressman from New York. It would designate as "wilderness" about 9.4 million acres of land in Utah, which would severely restrict the public's access to those lands.
"It is hard to overstate the horrendous economic impacts such a decision would have on Utah," said Jim Sims, President & CEO of the Western Business Roundtable. "Mining, farming, oil and gas development, ranching, grazing and real estate development, all would be hit exceedingly hard. Of course, the ripple effects -- on education funding, employment, local and state tax revenues, energy production for the nation -- would also be huge and felt not only in Utah but throughout the Western region."
"There is clearly support among Utah legislators for movement on a Utah wilderness bill, but this approach is increasingly recognized as a 'gang attack' on Utah, pure and simple," said Sims. "No one remembers a single case of a wilderness bill getting serious consideration in the Congress without the support of even one member of home state's delegation. That fact is getting other states understandably nervous about the prospect of being targeted by out-of-state politicians and extremist environmental groups like Utah is being targeted."
The Hinchey bill is being pushed by an environmental group called SUWA, which is chaired by a Swedish multimillionaire named Hansjorg Wyss. While SUWA benefits from a non-profit "charity" status from the Internal Revenue Service, which supposedly restricts the group's ability to lobby, it has clearly been a very active lobbying force for the Hinchey bill.
"Federal land designations, and particularly wilderness designations, have very real consequences on the ground," Sims said. "They impact water, land and minerals rights and allocation regimes. They fundamentally alter local economies and job bases. They impact access to roads and private lands. And, they stop or vastly complicate energy infrastructure development, including the infrastructure that is needed to enable the many renewable energy systems that congressional leaders seem intent on mandating."
"It is precisely because of this complex interplay that wilderness designations have historically been carefully developed, on a state-by-state basis, with substantial input provided by the individuals, communities, local governments, states and local federal land managers. That bottom-up approach allows localized concerns to be identified and resolved, and results in wilderness designations everyone can be for," Sims said.
Sims said: "Some of this bill's critics have politely termed the bill as a 'top-down' approach to designations. Westerners tend to more blunt: H.R. 1925 is an attempt by interests from outside the state and outside the country to cram these designations down the throats of Utahns. It is not surprising that the bill lacks support from any of the Utah congressional delegation."