That's the bill before the Legislature that would repeal state laws enacted in 1927 and 1929 that granted authority to the federal government to use state lands as part of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
Mike Styler, director of the state Department of Natural Resources, says the only purpose of the bill is to force the federal government to negotiate with the state to clear up title to state lands that the federal government manages as part of the refuge.
In 2001, according to Styler, the federal Department of the Interior had agreed to pay the state $15 million to settle the issue, but then had to back out because it lacked the necessary money from Congress. Since that time, negotiations have stalled. This bill would get the federal government's attention.
Rep. Ben Ferry, R-Corinne, the bill's sponsor, has agreed to amend the bill to delay implementation for a year to allow negotiations to resume. Federal officials say they can live with that.
Styler says that the state is not unhappy about the way the federal Fish and Wildlife Service manages the lands, nor does the state covet the water rights associated with them.
Our question, then, is why tinker with the status quo? The federal government is paying the tab to manage the refuge, located on the shores of the Great Salt Lake west of Brigham City. In the wake of the 1983 floods that devastated its dikes, the federal government poured a lot of money into the refuge to make repairs. Its facilities provide flood control. It pays Box Elder County fees in lieu of taxes. It has opened a new visitor center that birders and other tourists love.
So, unless the state government wants to change the management of the 253,440 acres of disputed lands, it is hard to see how HB192 would benefit Utahns or other Americans.
Critics of the bill know that the state is making preliminary plans for a dam on the Bear River that would store water to slake the thirst of cities farther south on the Wasatch Front. That makes birders and waterfowl hunters suspicious that the state really does covet water rights in the area.
Styler says that's not true.
We say, let sleeping ducks lie.
It is hard to see how HB192 would benefit Utahns or other Americans.
