Public-lands proposal seeks to create new national monument in Utah before Obama does

It has critics on the left and right. The counties involved could back out. Congress could let it die a slow death. And, in the end, President Barack Obama could name a new national monument in Utah. Or ... The public-lands compromise that has been three years in the making actually could pass. What might that mean? That's what Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, wanted to talk about Monday when he met with The Salt Lake Tribune's editorial board. He said the proposal would result in: • Granting roughly 3.9 million acres of eastern Utah new federal protections in exchange for opening 365,000 acres in the Uinta Basin for oil and gas drilling. • Expanding Arches National Park by 50,000 acres to include land adjacent to Delicate Arch that the federal government once tried to lease for oil development. • Upgrading Dinosaur National Monument to a national park. • Turning the Cleveland-Lloyd dinosaur-fossil quarry, the biggest concentration of Jurassic bones on the planet, into the "Jurassic National Monument." But only if Emery County agrees in votes expected to take place in early September. Those are among the highlights in a massive seven-county proposal that Chaffetz and Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, have negotiated with county commissioners, environmentalists, outdoor enthusiasts, ranchers and oil companies. They intend to unveil their proposal in the coming weeks and envision a "kumbaya" moment in which Democrats join with Republicans to quickly pass their legislation.  Often called the "grand bargain," though Bishop and Chaffetz refer to it as the "public-lands initiative," they see it as a chance to end decades of feuding in these rural counties. The key, according to Chaffetz, is that if passed, no president could unilaterally create a national monument in these counties again. That guarantee would be written into the legislation. Without it, he said, the counties wouldn't go along with designating roughly 2 million acres of new wilderness and adding protection to another 1.9 million acres. He knows that limiting the power of future presidents may give the president "heartburn," but there's an incentive for the White House to play ball...more