Friday, March 01, 2013

Anti-federal move marches through Utah House

Utah lawmakers want to study the intricacies and economic impact of the state taking over and managing tens of millions of acres of public lands that it has demanded the federal government relinquish. "Really we need to understand what is there," said Rep. Roger Barrus, R-Centerville. "We’ll finally have an understanding of all the complexities and inter-relatedness of all of the public lands in Utah." The analysis Barrus wants performed in HB142 would cost $450,000 and, he said, serve to inform the discussion of how the state could manage the land currently in federal control.  Last year, the state gave Congress a deadline of December 2014 to turn over tens of millions of acres of federal land to the state. After spending a year studying the impacts of such a shift, it was determined a more detailed analysis was needed. HB142, establishing the study, passed the House on Wednesday with one dissenting vote...more

1 comment:

Food for Thought said...

450k for an analysis...that's worse than what the feds do for studies!!! I agree with Rep. King...that money could go to a much better use. I also wonder who will get that 450k...some contractor licking their lips for that kind of money.

Maybe they should focus on ESA and NEPA....that is where the feds have their hands tied.