As long as there has been settlement of the intermountain west, there have been land disputes.  Usually though, those land disputes take place between two residents of the same state/county.  In this case, the dispute is taking place between residents of New York and Illinois on one side and the people of Utah.  You see, Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) have decided that they know better than Utah residents how to use and preserve their lands.  At the heart of this issue is Hinchey's Red Rock Wilderness of 2009.  This is not a new bill (as I learned today).  It will take 9.4 million acres of Utah land and put them under federal auspices.  These lands are, in large part, already protected state parks because they are indeed amazingly beautiful areas.

The reason for the take-over of these lands is a group of environmental lobbyists believe that use of these lands will harm them.  They believe that certain uses (off-road vehicles) are allowed everywhere and they are destroying the landscape.  The thing is, the state does regulate where the ORV's go.  These vehicles are confined to specified trails and those that are caught off trail do face punishment.  The state is perfectly capable of handling these lands themselves as every member of the Utah delegation testified in committee today.

"There are beautiful pristine areas of Utah that need to be protected, but this bill goes far far beyond that," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the ranking Republican member of the public lands subcommittee. "This particular bill is a relic of the past. It has not been successful since the age of disco and it will not be successful now or in the future."

Utah's congressional delegation favors smaller county-level bills where local politicians, business leaders and environmentalists agree on what lands deserve the government's highest level of protection, such as the Washington County lands bill that designated more than 250,000 acres of new wilderness earlier this year.

Even the federal agency that would over-see the lands should the bill pass, disagrees with the authors of the bill

Robert Abbey, the director of the Bureau of Land Management, sided with Utah's lawmakers, saying he preferred "an approach that is more geographically focused" instead of a statewide wilderness bill.

In his written testimony, Abbey said: "Many of these lands are extraordinary, with unmatched wild land resources." Yet he also pointed out that the Red Rock proposal would "present serious challenges because of existing and conflicting uses," including active mining and biking trails and OHV trails.

The supporters of the bill claim to have widespread support, but Utah's sole Democrat Jim Matheson doesn't concur.

Utah's lone Democrat in Congress, Rep. Jim Matheson, said he opposes the Red Rock act because it fails to take into consideration the views of those outside of the environmental community. He urged the bill's supporters to follow the "bipartisan road map for future legislative success," that is the Washington County lands bill.

But what rankled Rep. Rob Bishop is...

Closing one-fifth of the state from economic activity would have dramatic negative effects on education funding, employment, local and state tax revenues, energy production and quality of life...

Another problem is this bill, as far as we've seen, has no official maps or descriptions. It just lists areas and acreage. The public is right to be skeptical of a Congress that votes on bills it has not seen. Supporters of the Hinchey bill are now asking politicians to consider a wilderness bill that will be left to bureaucrats to draw up. This is not a serious way to legislate.

But it is what we have come to expect out of this legislature.

One other thing to consider about this bill.....taking these lands out of state control and putting them in federal control would put a large chunk of Utah tourist dollars in the coffers of the federal government.  While I don't know for sure if that is what is driving the push for this bill, you have to admit that is one heck of an incentive for a government that is currently running a $1trillion deficit.