SOTU Leads to Land Dispute Over Utah Monument

(KUTV) President Obama's State of the Union speech worries some Utah lawmakers and they're especially afraid of a big new national monument. President Obama last night said he will act by himself on some government matters and southern Utah legislators fear the president may have Utah in mind. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance has proposed a 1,400,000-acre greater Canyonland's national monument to push drillers, commercial development and off-road vehicles off federal land. Representative Mike Noel says the federal government is already cutting its deficit by cutting federal land payments to states. Noel has roused fellow republicans to assert Utah title to federal lands, and fight over the two-thirds of all Utah land owned by the federal government.

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