SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lost far more than it has received in a recent land swap with the federal government, according to the Utah Association of Counties. The deal, the group charges, was little more than a payoff to end legal challenges that would have exposed an abuse of presidential power.
Two Utah counties suffered a major loss when their land was declared a new national monument by President Bill Clinton in September 1996, and they suffered another loss when Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt agreed to swap that land for other federal property last week, say some officials. Those counties now plan to send representatives to testify before a congressional committee before a final bill is voted on to approve the
deal.
“We suffered a great loss. The people of Garfield County are feeling betrayed,” lamented Garfield County Commissioner Louise Liston. “When the monument was created we were sacrificed, and with the current land swap we feel like we were once again sacrificed. This exchange has turned us into a federally owned territory. I don’t know how we can be happy with that trade.”
Claiming authority granted in the 1906 Antiquities Act, Clinton declared 1.7 million acres of land in southern Utah to be a new national monument by executive proclamation in September 1996 during his re-election campaign. It was viewed at the time as a political ploy to gain favor among the environmentalist movement.
The action was heavily criticized by Utah elected officials because no public hearings were held, and even the governor was not consulted in advance by Clinton. Although other presidents have used the same law to form other monuments in the past, there is no other instance in which the people of the area where not given an opportunity to influence the action.
The order forming the monument by Clinton was termed an “arrogant abuse of authority” by Mark Walsh, associate director of the Utah Association of Counties. He said he fears that if something isn’t done, the president will abuse that same power again.
Former Clinton critic, Leavitt is now very excited about the land swap his office announced last week. County officials are not as impressed and have not withdrawn their law suit brought about by Clinton’s action. Liston also said that Leavitt blind sided her county by not including them in the planning for the exchange. Garfield county will give up all state trust lands within the monument and they get no new lands in exchange. Nine other counties receive the benefits of the newly obtained lands while Garfield receives no lands containing resources.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said previously the land designated as the Grande Staircase of the Escalante is the “Saudi Arabia of coal,” because it contains the largest coal and mineral reserve in the U.S. The area was about to begin mining the highest quality coal available in the world, with a value estimated to be $1 trillion. The area containing the coal is ordinary desert with no scenic vistas and could have easily been left out of the designation for the monument, according to opponents.
The only other coal that could compete in terms of quality comes from a mine in Indonesia owned by Chinese interests. Critics claim Clinton sold out America’s best interests in return for campaign donations. Liston is one of those critics. “That’s what you have to read into it,” she said of the politics involved.
The land swap is touted as the largest in the history of the U.S. giving Utah 139,000 acres for the loss of 1.7 million acres to form the monument. Utah’s loss of 62 billion tons of coal on the Kaiporowitz Plateau is to be offset by receipt of 160 million tons of coal in the exchange. Critics say those numbers just don’t equate.
“It did not even come close to recognizing the loss of value at the Kaiporowitz Plateau, absolutely that’s true. The way they’re (Utah congressional delegation) perceiving it is that it was lost anyway and this way they got something,” explained Randy Johnson, Emery County Commissioner and board member of the Utah Association of Counties.
The agreement signed by Leavitt, which must be approved by Congress, also brings to an end a law suit filed by the State Institutional Trust Lands. Certain lands were designated as trust lands as part of the agreement which made Utah a state in 1896. Benefits accrued from those lands are used to supplement funds for education. Formation of the monument impacted trust lands that would have derived billions of dollars from the Kaiporowitz coal. The suit was filed to protect the interests of Utah school children.
The Utah Association of Counties also filed a suit to protect the interests of Kane and Garfield Counties. The purpose was not only to protect financial interests, but to prevent a precedent from being set in the way a monument can be formed by a president. Fears were expressed by several officials that the federal government has been considering the formation of at least three other monuments in Utah for many years. The Utah Association of Counties suit is the only one still moving forward, at least for now. Walsh said his organization is in a holding pattern as it assesses what has happened.
Johnson plans a trip to Washington today to testify before the House Subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands chaired by Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, who has been selected to file the bill for congressional approval. Johnson likes the agreement for the benefit it brings the schools, but does not want to end the effort to question the legality of the formation of the monument.
“I will outline some of the concerns of other counties as well, that is that this is a land exchange that was on the table many years ago that’s just suddenly been accepted. It’s really irrelevant to the monument and how it was created or anything else,” said Johnson.
All of the 139,000 acres to be received by Utah’s State Institutional Trust Lands in the swap are lands that have been in dispute going back 60 years. Those lands have been in negotiation long before the formation of the monument. Obtaining those lands compensates for some of the previous losses when other national parks and monuments were formed, but not for the formation of this latest one, agreed Liston, Johnson, and Walsh.
Leavitt and the State Institutional Trust Lands board, of which Liston is a member, believe this is the best that can be expected in the way of a resolution. The continuation of legal action would adversely impact funds intended for education, and the chance of a better results would be slim. When Liston wears her county commissioner hat she is quick to point out that none of the concerns of rural counties have been met by the agreement. In fact, counties may even be worse off.
Liston’s county has a total population of only 4,000 and 98 percent of the land is tax exempt because it is owned by the federal government or the state. With very little tax base, Garfield County can barely survive.
Emery County is 92 percent state or federally owned and has a population of 11,000. Coal fired power plants and coal mines are the primary source of revenue. Unless something is worked out, the proposed land swap will eliminate 75 percent of the coal that can currently be mined in that county.
“What was once a 100-year supply of coal in Emery County is now a 25-year supply at the outset. They’ve traded here and traded there, so we end up using all our coal now, which is good now but what do we do in 25 years when we have no economic base left,” complained Johnson.
