Utah officials filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to answer a question: Can the federal government control public lands within the state indefinitely?
“It is obvious to all of us that the federal government has increasingly failed to keep our lands accessible and properly managed,” Gov. Spencer Cox said at a Tuesday morning news conference.
“Utah deserves priority when it comes to managing this land,” he continued. “Utah is in the best position to understand and respond to the unique needs of our environment and communities.”
The lawsuit is an effort that comes after “decades of legal analysis,” according to the Utah attorney general’s office.
“It is time that we stand for our land,” Cox said, which is the title of a state campaign launched Tuesday alongside the lawsuit.
The federal government owns nearly two-thirds of the land in Utah. The state’s lawsuit challenges 18.5 million acres of “unappropriated” land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management, covering 34% of total land in the state.
In contrast, “appropriated” land includes national parks, national monuments, national forests, wilderness areas and tribal lands, which the lawsuit does not dispute.
While Utah argues that the federal government’s holding of “unappropriated” land is unconstitutional, environmental groups say the lawsuit is unnecessary and puts the state’s landscapes at risk.
“With today’s announcement, Utah has firmly established itself as the most anti-public lands state in the country,” said Steve Bloch, legal director for the environmental nonprofit Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
(State of Utah) The state has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government's control of the land in red, currently overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
Bloch added that the Beehive State’s public lands are “at risk with Utah’s saber rattling and insistence that many of these remarkable landscapes are instead ‘state lands’ that should be developed and ultimately destroyed by short-sighted state politicians.”
But outgoing Attorney General Sean Reyes said that federal ownership of “unappropriated” land “hurts Utah on many levels, depriving us of significant rights, resources and opportunities.” He noted that Utah cannot police, tax or build infrastructure on federal land within its borders.
State leaders characterized the federal government as ineffective and abusive when it comes to managing land in Utah.
“Even if you believe that Washington bureaucrats should manage land from 2,000 miles away, you simply have to admit they have not done a very good job,” said House Speaker Mike Schultz. “The federal government consistently demonstrates their incompetence in properly managing our land.”
Schultz pointed to the BLM’s recently published Public Lands Rule — which would bolster conservation on public lands — as “beyond devastating to Utah.” He also cited failures in controlling wildfires, protecting wildlife habitats, preventing floods and managing water resources on public lands.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) House Speaker Mike Schultz talks about public lands, during a news conference at the Capitol, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024.
Senate President Stuart Adams agreed: “The primary caregiver should be the state of Utah supported by the federal government, not the other way around.”
State leadership also decried the BLM’s recent closure of roads to motorized vehicles near Moab as another example of federal overreach.
Cox specifically condemned the federal government’s cattle grazing policies, which he said are “destroying the livelihoods of our farmers and ranchers who preserve these lands.”
“People who have no idea, no tie to the land, no tie to the history, no tie to our state, are making these decisions that are causing real harm,” the governor said.
Redge Johnson, is the Utah Public Lands Policy Coordinating Office Executive Director. He said if the Supreme Court rules in Utah’s favor, the state would manage the former BLM land for mining, livestock grazing, recreation and energy development through the Utah Department of Land Management, which was created in 2017.
After the news conference, Cox said he suspects other states will be interested in joining Utah’s lawsuit.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Senate President Stuart Adams answers questions about the public lands law suit, during a news conference at the Capitol, on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024.
Utah has retained the law firm Clement & Murphy, PLLC, based in Virginia, to litigate the case on its behalf. The firm has argued before the Supreme Court in cases concerning religious exercise, the right to bear arms and tribal law.
Because Reyes is not seeking reelection this fall, the lawsuit will quickly become the responsibility of Utah’s new attorney general.
Derek Brown, the Republican nominee for Utah attorney general in the 2024 election, said the lawsuit “is something that I will absolutely support and continue to move forward” if elected.
Democratic attorney general candidate Rudy Bautista said that he supports the use of public lands by ranchers and the public.
“I also believe we must preserve our beautiful state,” he said, “and I will not waste Utah taxpayer money challenging any rules or laws that will only benefit oil companies.”
Michelle Quist, the United Utah Party’s attorney general candidate, called the lawsuit an “election year stunt” that the state won’t win.
“I’m not against litigating [public lands] issues against the federal government,” she said. “This just isn’t the way.”
Other attorney general candidates did respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
U.S. Rep. John Curtis, former chair of the Conservative Climate Caucus and Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, shared on social media that he believes Utahns best know how to manage and protect “the land they have been connected to for generations.”
”In my district, about 80% of the land is public, which makes it challenging for the local [government] to raise taxes to pay for essential services,” he wrote on X. “I am pleased to see this effort from our local leaders to find solutions that benefit our communities and our land.”
Sen. Mike Lee said in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune that the lawsuit was “an excellent step forward.”
“The federal government controls far too much of Utah (and other western states) impeding access to resources, recreation, housing, and economic development,” he added. “Utah belongs to Utahns.”
Environmental groups were quick to denounce Utah’s lawsuit.
“This is a frivolous publicity stunt by state officials who’ve been hostile to the very idea of federal public lands, which are held in trust for all Americans,” said Randi Spivak, public lands policy director at the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity.
“Like other Western states, Utah agreed to relinquish public lands within its borders as a condition of becoming a state,” Spivak said. “Rewriting history and spending taxpayer dollars on a hopeless, expensive court battle is the antithesis of good governing and environmental stewardship.”
Aaron Weiss, deputy director for the nonprofit Center for Western Priorities, said that the “lawsuit isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.”
“The property clause of the Constitution gives Congress, and only Congress, authority to transfer or dispose of federal lands,” he continued. “That’s the beginning, middle, and end of this lawsuit.”
Alison Flint, the legal director for conservation nonprofit The Wilderness Society, said that the lawsuit is “a brazen and undemocratic attempt to force the handover of millions of acres of American’s public lands to the state – and ultimately to private companies planning to develop them.”
The courts should reject these cynical, outrageous attempts to undermine and take control of America’s public lands,” she added.
This isn’t the first time Utah has sued the federal government over perceived federal overreach on public lands.
After former President Donald Trump reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase National Monuments in 2017, President Joe Biden used the Antiquities Act of 1906 to restore them to their original acreage in 2021.
Utah filed a lawsuit in 2022 arguing that Biden overstepped. The state wants the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to declare the monument designations unlawful, which would remove more than 2 million acres from federal protection.
Cox has indicated that Utah wants that case to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Utah is also challenging the BLM’s Public Lands Rule alongside Wyoming, as well as the road closures near Moab.
