The Washington County Growth and Conservation Act of 2008 is decidedly better than the 2006 version, which would have allowed the sale of more than 24,000 acres of public land to private developers. Under the latest iteration, 9,052 acres of public land would be sold. And by our calculation, that is 9,052 acres too many.

There is plenty of private developable property around St. George without auctioning off land that belongs not only to the residents of Washington County and Utah, but to all Americans.

Just as worrisome is a provision to hand over a chunk of the proceeds of the sale to the county to be used for local projects. That means some of the money could end up facilitating construction of the Lake Powell pipeline, a project that is controversial for its environmental impact, expense and impracticality.

Nevada has already set a bad precedent by selling off federal land to bolster the coffers of local government, but there is no reason for Utah to imitate poor public policy.

Both the sale of public lands and the pipeline proposal would encourage even more growth in an arid and fragile part of the state that a range of scientists predict will become even drier and hotter in coming years because of global climate change.

Indeed, some climatologists question whether Lake Powell and the Colorado River will be able to meet even current water demands, if the snowpack that feeds the river diminishes.

The new land bill includes some real benefits for the people of southern Utah, including more than 250,000 acres of wilderness - 123,000 more acres than the 2006 version protected. It also eliminates a transportation corridor that would have infringed on desert tortoise habitat.

However, its most positive outcome has been the creation of Vision Dixie, a grass-roots coalition of planners, government and county residents that has gathered opinions and data to determine how Washington County should grow.

This group opposes the sale of public lands and favors the protection of open space.

The Bennett-Matheson land bill should reflect those views.