As The Tribune previously reported, the House Subcommittee on Federal Lands recently convened a hearing in Washington County led by vice-chair John Curtis, titled “Empowering Local Voices and Stopping Federal Overreach to Improve the Management of Utah’s Public Lands.” He and Reps. Celeste Maloy and Blake Moore solicited testimony from five officials on three related topics: (1) the Northern Corridor Highway, (2) the recent BLM rule placing equal value on conservation and “multiple use”, and (3) the differences between federal and Utah visions for public lands management.
The highway was approved through the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area (NCA) at the end of the Trump administration, despite an environmental impact statement showing it was counter to the NCA’s purpose, and describing alternatives outside the NCA that addressed traffic flow as well as those inside it, at about the same cost.
In response, Conserve Southwest Utah, a nonprofit group of 7,000 Washington County constituents, supported by a coalition of major conservation organizations, filed a lawsuit claiming the approval was unlawful. Last year the Interior Department agreed to re-assess the approval. The assessment is expected to be released for comment soon. If the highway is denied, our elected officials will say it exemplifies “federal overreach” and “ignoring local voices”; ironically, many of their constituents would say the opposite.
These issues are very complex. This congressional hearing could not possibly fulfill its purpose “to collect and analyze information for legislative policymaking.” It gave voice to superficial arguments, from only one perspective, using politically-charged rhetoric. It was woefully insufficient to even describe the issues, much less drive lasting solutions. We need a deep conversation and real engagement, not a superficial hearing. I’ve been talking to Washington County officials about doing just that, and have hope they will agree.
Tom Butine, Conserve Southwest Utah advisor and past board president, St. George