Lawmakers Warn Wilderness Designation Could Hurt Schools
Feb 15, 2008 by Elizabeth Ziegler
HJR 10 Passes House with Bipartisan Support
(KCPW News) A bipartisan group of lawmakers says Utah's public schools could miss out on billions of dollars in funding if Congress is successful in designating 9 million acres of Utah public lands as federal wilderness areas. A resolution to stop that from happening passed the House of Representatives Thursday.
"If someone is going to come in and say, ‘We'd like to recommend a wilderness designation,' there are some areas of the state that that would work just fine," says Representative Roger Barrus (R-Davis County) who is co-sponsoring the resolution. "But we need, and residents and citizens of this state and our Congressional designation need, to have a say in that. And actually, more than that, they need to have the final say."
Barrus says one developer is already extracting oil from a parcel of land north of the Book Cliffs Mountains owned by the School Institutional Trust Lands Administration. The severence taxes from the oil operation fund public education throughout the state. Barrus says this single operation will add $40 million to the SITLA fund over the next decade, and $15 billion over the next 40 years. He says encouraging more oil development on the site would greatly benefit the state's education system.
"We have a lot of children in this state. We put as much money into education as we possibly can all of the time. And this is another opportunity we have to keep our education system a good quality system," Barrus says.
However, Barrus says the wilderness designation currently being considered by Congress could discourage further oil development at the site. The problem is transportation. If the region just north of Interstate 70 in Eastern Utah is designated federal wilderness, it could jeopardize a road expansion project aimed at improving access to the oil-rich SITLA-owned land. The Legislature has already appropriated money for the project. But if the wilderness area is designated, the state wouldn't be able to expand the existing rural access road to accommodate large oil trucks, and Barrus says this would make the region less attractive to oil speculators.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Geezer said:
SITLA lands can be swapped for other mineral-rich BLM lands in less scenic areas. One such exchange is nearing completion. Others will be coming along later. The state has a vital interest in keeping these great wild lands intact, as they are essential to southern Utah's tourism industry.
3. Jared said:
I live near the proposed wilderness area, and I can tell you that there are not to many less senic BLM areas in the state. It is barren and desolate. Everytime someone tries to develope anything in this state the "Green Community" tries to stop it by trying to get it designated as wilderness. If there wasn't anyone interested in oil exploration there, they would have never moved to have it made wilderness.I like to recreate in Moab and the surrounding area. We are constntly on the fight to keep exsisting roads open, because some "Green" group (SUWA)is tring to incorrectly interpret the laws. They need to leave us alone and let us responsibly use and enjoy our land.
2. Tom Chapman said:
EVERY Utah citizen should contact the Congressional leaders and voice their outrage at their illegal land grabs and tell them "hands off Utah". Do it NOW, before it is too late