A view of the Sand Rafael Swell looking east through Cistern Canyon in southeastern Utah. (FILE PHOTO / The Salt Lake Tribune)
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Washington » Utah's elected leaders will present a united front this week against a bill backed by environmentalists that would turn vast swaths of the state's redrock country into federal wilderness.

They say the legislation, which a House committee will discuss Thursday, covers too many acres, impedes private property rights and is little more than "propaganda" pushed by outsiders, like the bill's sponsor Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.

"I'm kind of tired of Eastern liberals trying to brush up their credentials with certain environmental groups by saying they are going to be really tough on the West," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the ranking member on the public lands subcommittee that will hold the hearing.

None of Utah's five federal lawmakers support what is known as the "Red Rock bill," which would protect 9.4 million acres from development, mining and off-road vehicles.

And all of them plan to attend the hearing, including the delegation's lone Democrat Rep. Jim Matheson.

"We have had a very polarized and unproductive dialogue for more than two decades in Utah on land issues," Matheson said, instead pushing for smaller and more collaborative regional lands bills.

Also planning to testify against the Red Rock bill are Republican Lt. Gov. Greg Bell and Carbon County Commissioner John Jones, a Democrat. Bell will represent Gov. Gary Herbert, who has a scheduling

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conflict.

Herbert, in an interview, called the hearing "a waste of time if we are trying to find a solution to the issue of wilderness in Utah."

 

Movement at last » The environmentalists backing the legislation say the organized opposition is just another sign of the momentum they have gained in recent years.

"To have the Red Rock bill bring the entire Utah delegation into a room to talk about wilderness is a positive thing," said Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

SUWA and other groups have pushed the Red Rock bill for the past 20 years, but this will be the first time it has received a full hearing by a House subcommittee, a key step toward passage.

But with no support from Utah's lawmakers it is highly unlikely Congress will go along. SUWA and Hinchey acknowledge they have no shot of succeeding this year. They see Thursday's hearing as a good opportunity to bring some attention to Utah's scenic lands.

The Red Rock act is one of six bills being debated during Thursday's subcommittee hearing, which opponents say is an indication that House Democrats are not serious about moving the legislation forward.

But Groene said: "We are excited to have the hearing. Congress is a busy place."

House Democrats have not released the names of supporting witnesses. But Utah homebuilder Bryson Garbett, whose son now works for SUWA, says he has accepted an invitation to testify. The committee has also invited Peter Metcalf, president of Black Diamond Equipment, an influential outdoor retailer.

"I have spent a lot of time with my family in these areas and they are just precious," Garbett said. "I have been in other places in the world and there is just nothing like it."

Garbett is a former Republican state House member who develops land for a living and he says he hasn't heard any serious reason not to support the Red Rock act.

 

Fatal flaws » Bishop says he has plenty. He said the bill would protect lands that do not qualify as wilderness under federal law. He also complained that the legislation doesn't take into account private landholders adjacent to or sometimes surrounded by what would become wilderness.

Groene said he welcomes hard questions, just as long as the opponents of the bill don't try to argue against any wilderness designation.

That won't happen. Not after Matheson and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, successfully passed the Washington County lands bill earlier this year that designated 256,000 acres as wilderness. It was a bill that even SUWA eventually supported and it has become a model that other counties and political leaders like Herbert, Matheson and Bishop want to follow.

But the relationship between Matheson, who represents most of the land in the legislation, and SUWA remains rocky.

"It would be very helpful if Representative Matheson would step up on this issue," Groene recently told The Salt Lake Tribune 's editorial board.

Matheson responded by saying: "It would really be nice if SUWA wanted to engage in a collaborative process."

The environmental group has participated in these talks and Groene said he is interested in working on regional bills, but worries that each piece of legislation will take years to pass.

"You are talking about a 40-year process," he said, concerned that off-road vehicle use could damage these lands before bills become law. "No one benefits from the uncertainty about what would happen with these lands."

But Bishop said these issues are sticky ones, involving sometimes-tense negotiations among county leaders, business interests and environmentalists.

"You've got to bring people who have some major differences in opinion together," he said. "That is never going to be done quickly."

mcanham@sltrib.com