Wyoming seeks to join Utah, Alaska in challenging federal wilderness protection rule

Wyoming is seeking to join Utah and Alaska in challenging an Obama administration plan to make millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West eligible for federal wilderness protection. The state filed papers Thursday asking U.S. District Judge Dee Benson of Utah to let it join in a lawsuit Utah filed last month. Alaska already has moved to join the suit, which challenges the federal “wild lands” policy announced in December. Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said Friday that joining the legal fight is his state’s best option. He said he repeatedly has asked U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to take the policy off the books, but has not succeeded. “The order is a de facto wilderness declaration and it could have serious impacts on Wyoming’s economy, which depends on the multiple use of the public lands,” Mead said. In its legal filing, Wyoming points out that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management controls more than 18 million acres in the state. “The state receives approximately 48 percent of the total mineral revenues generated from BLM lands in Wyoming, which in fiscal year 2010 amounted to nearly $1 billion,” the filing said. “Accordingly, any management direction from (Salazar) that takes BLM lands out of multiple use management and treats those lands as wilderness will have a significant economic effect on the state of Wyoming.”...more