Beauty for Oil: Utah Land Swap Clears House

By Patricia Gaul

WASHINGTON, DC, October 9, 2002 (ENS) - Early last week, in the waning days of the 107th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow for the exchange of federal and state lands within Utah's borders. The Federal-Utah State Trust Lands Consolidation Act (HR 4968), calls for transferring some 108,000 acres of state school trust lands, mostly in the San Rafael Swell, to the federal government in exchange for some 135,000 acres of federal lands rich in oil and coal.

Introduced by Utah Republican Congressman Chris Cannon, the bill, not unlike previous bills that authorized land swaps, is intended to generate revenues for public schools in the state of Utah, and to help both the state and federal government manage and conserve land more efficiently.

Cannon said that, "By consolidating these lands currently checkerboarded across the state, Utah will realize the full value of the land for our children."

Part of the San Rafael Swell (Photo courtesy Utah Photo Wild)

"The San Rafael Swell area is an exquisite landscape of high mesas, deep canyons, spectacular arches and soaring spires," Tom Fulton, deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals management in the U.S. Interior Department told a hearing of the House Resources Subcommittee on Parks, Public Lands and Recreation in June.

"The terrain varies from sheer cliffs and dazzling canyons to more gently eroded badlands broken by shallow washes," he said. "The BLM currently manages the vast majority of this area, but like so many areas in Utah, it is dotted with state trust lands," explained Fulton, who supports the land exchange.

The School Trust Lands Administration in Utah operates land that was given to the state by the federal government when the territory entered the union, becoming a state. The land, some 3.4 million acres, is held in trust, with revenues used for the benefit of the state's public schools. This is the agency that would administer the 133,000 acres now under federal jurisdiction.

Education groups support the measure. Utah Parent Teachers Assocation president-elect JoAnn Nielson, the land swap will provide "real value to our children" from land that is currently spread out in pieces here and there. "The bill, which our representatives have worked so hard on, will offer real help to the children."

Despite the swift passage of HR 4968 by voice vote on the House Floor, the measure has not had clear sailing. Environmentalists lined up in opposition to the bill during consideration in the House subcommittee.

Desert bighorn sheep in the San Rafael Swell (Photo courtesy BLM San Rafael Study)

The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Western Land Exchange Project say that the two acreages to be swapped are not of equivalent value.

Nielson said she had hoped that concerns by environmental groups regarding valuation of the lands had been met during earlier meetings.

But Chris Krupp, staff attorney for the Western Lands Exchange Project, an organization created to conduct research, outreach and advocacy for the reform of federal land exchange policy, is not satisfied with any changes that may have been made regarding the valuation issue.

Krupp said his organization is concerned how the move would affect threatened and endangered species. He recognizes that the bill was changed in an attempt to deal with this issue, but says those moves only developed a process to identify threatened and endangered species, and do nothing of consequence to protect them.

While proponents of the bill say that the bill is important to public education, Krupp points out that in fact it would only provide a small percentage of the state's education budget.

The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) has been lobbying to defeat the measure. This regional environmental group usually supports such land exchanges, but objects to this one because the lands are not of equal value.

At the subcommittee hearing SUWA and The Wilderness Society, a national organization based in Washington, jointly submitted a statement claiming that, "Environmental concerns have not been adequately addressed through the process."

Ancient rock art in the San Rafael Swell (Photo courtesy Utah Photo Wild)

Senator Robert Bennett, a Utah Republican, introduced an identical measure in the Senate earlier this year, S.2745. Fellow Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, cosponsored the bill.

Given that the end of the legislative session is near, and the Senate is currently debating the Iraq war resolution, the land exchange bill may not come to a vote in the Senate this year.

According to Nielson, passing the bill in the Senate may, in theory, be easier than getting it through the House, but given the timing, it is hard to guarantee any particular outcome.

Krupp said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the Senate will not act on it this fall. Still, he too admitted that at this point in the session, anything could happen.