If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while hoping in vain for different results, then Utah’s leaders surely need to talk to a mental health professional.
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily dismissed Utah’s land-grab lawsuit, which had gained the support of 12 states. It was the latest in a string of unsuccessful attempts to wrest control of public lands from the American people.
Why Utah persists in its quest to privatize its priceless assets of public land is puzzling. Managed by the Bureau of Land Management, these lands are cherished by mountain bikers, hunters, hikers, campers and photographers. Many connect to national parks and monuments, and it’s hard to imagine that selling them off would ever be a popular move.
In its complaint, the state argued that the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from holding “unappropriated” public lands indefinitely, and that those lands must be handed over to the state. Aside from the state inventing its own definition of the word “unappropriated,” the lawsuit relied on a selective reading of the Constitution that the Supreme Court rightfully ignored.
The state paid $500,000 to the lawyers who wrote this failed complaint and spent over $1.3 million on a public relations campaign aimed at convincing Utahns that the state would be a better steward of public land than the federal government. Add that to the roughly $4 million the state has wasted on failed public land seizure attempts in the past decade, and you come up with nearly $6 million squandered.
Public lands make a lot of money for Utah. Outdoor recreation generated $9.5 billion in economic output in 2023, according to the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. And it’s growing at an annual average of 8.4% — the highest of any state. Utah’s world-famous national public lands draw millions of visitors to the state each year, who then spend money at hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses.
The federal government spends over $300 million a year (adjusted for inflation) to manage public lands in Utah — a cost the state would have a hard time covering were its land-grab effort to succeed. A 2014 study commissioned by state lawmakers found that the state would be able to pay that cost only if it were to aggressively ramp up oil and gas drilling or sell off some land.
Currently, Utah benefits from the federal management dollars flowing in annually, as well as $50 million in direct payments to counties containing public lands and $90 million in federal oil and gas royalties.
Despite this beneficial arrangement, the state’s lawmakers have continually treated public lands like a burden, not an asset. Utah lawmakers have been trying to seize control of national public lands since the 1980s. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced a bill in 1981 that closely mirrors the recent Supreme Court complaint. Then in 2012, Utah state lawmakers passed the Utah Transfer of Public Lands Act to take control of essentially the same public land identified in the Supreme Court complaint.
Efforts continued in 2017 when Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz filed a bill to transfer federal land to the states. He was forced to withdraw his bill after hunters and anglers loudly protested. Today, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee is pushing legislation that would make it easier to sell off public lands to developers, claiming that the lands are necessary to build affordable housing.
Most Utahns don’t want what their representatives keep trying to achieve. Public lands are incredibly popular in Utah and throughout the West. Polling by Colorado College found that a majority of Utahns — including Republicans — support conservation of public lands over their exploitation for oil and gas.
Though it’s hard to believe, the state will most likely continue its crusade to seize and sell off public lands, wasting even more taxpayer money in the lower courts.
Utahns should tell their leaders once and for all to stop wasting their time and money on this wild goose chase and embrace the ongoing gift of American public lands — not the grift of trying to sell them.
Aaron Weiss is a contributor to Writers on the Range.
Aaron Weiss is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He is deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities.
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