WASHINGTON - For decades, county commissioners and conservationists in Utah have been battling over land in the eastern part of the state, squaring off over potential protections, oil drilling and potash mining in the territory.
It's almost been a "100 years war," observed Mike Matz, director of public lands for Pew Charitable Trusts.
Enter Republican Rep. Rob Bishop, a seven-term lawmaker who nearly three years ago set out to bring the warring interests together and hammer out a massive land management deal. Through hundreds of meetings with thousands of stakeholders, Bishop has steered the group closer to a plan for divvying up millions of acres - with some land poised to garner new wilderness protections and other tracts set to be earmarked for energy development.
Bishop has urged county commissioners to view potential wilderness designations as a kind of "currency" with value that can be traded for "some specific, tangible benefit," such as special zones for oil drilling and rights of way for roads. Depending on who you ask, it's either a cynical approach to conservation or a pragmatic strategy for dealing with a complex, controversial issue. It's one indication of how Bishop may approach his new congressional role as chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Bishop sees the chairmanship as a chance to shake up the way the United States manages federal and Indian lands, from protecting treasured areas to permitting drilling in others.
"We haven't had a change in the way people look at the stewardship of the federal government and land in 50 or 60 years," Bishop said. "We are timed for a paradigm shift, and I want to be part of that."
For Bishop, who convenes his first panel hearing Thursday with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, that means giving local, state and tribal governments greater control of federal lands. It also means undoing legal constraints, including litigation under the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act...
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