Utah's Supreme Court overturned a lower-court decision and ruled Tuesday that records dealing with wilderness rights of way over public lands are public, not private.
The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance had sought records regarding disputed RS2477 roads in Emery County. But various state agencies, including the Attorney General's Office and Governor's Office, refused to release the documents.
After a denial from the State Records Committee, SUWA pressed the case in 3rd District Court.
But Judge Tyrone Medley ruled in August 2006 that the database created for RS2477 roads by the Automated Geographic Resource Center (AGRC) was established solely to support litigation against the federal government.
On Tuesday, the state's high court unanimously rejected that decision.
Chief Justice Christine Durham, writing for the court, said that Medley erred because the requested records are not exempted from disclosure under Utah's Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA).
Durham asserted that the state statute that created the AGRC directs the agency to maintain RS2477 records for multiple users.
However, top lieutenants from Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office argued that the information was an "attorney work product" and amounted to privileged attorney-client communications.
By disclosing the requested records, the AGRC insisted, the state would divulge the focus of the attorney general's fact-collecting, thus revealing county and state litigation strategy.
Contacted Tuesday afternoon, Attorney General's Office spokesman Scott Troxel said he could not comment at this time.
SUWA representatives celebrated Tuesday's decision as a dual victory.
"It may be helpful in protecting Utah's open space," said SUWA Executive Director Scott Groene. "But it also goes to the important principle that government needs to operate in an open and honest manner with its citizens."
According to Groene, his nonprofit environmental group was seeking information about counties making allegedly dubious property claims against the federal government.
"When you look at the [road] claims that the state and counties have made -- and SUWA has documented many of these -- they are barely visible, some are impassable," said Joro Walker, an attorney with Western Resource Advocates who argued on behalf of SUWA. "Some are legit; many are not."
Federal agencies, such as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, examine a broad array of impacts when considering roads through wilderness areas, Walker said, but states and counties don't have to provide that oversight.
"I understand that some think that local control is always better," Walker added. "But what we're talking about here is access to sensitive and wilderness lands without environmental review or protection of natural resources."
Revised Statute (RS) 2477 » A Civil War-era mining law that granted rights of way across public lands was repealed by Congress in 1976. But existing routes were grandfathered in, triggering road-ownership disputes in Utah.
Court made ?right decision
Whether people like SUWA or not, the ruling makes good points. Read more about the spat at blogs.sltrib.com/vault.
Records ?opened up
The Utah Supreme Court overturned a decision to withhold documents from the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Read a PDF of Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling at sltrib.com.
