The state of Utah is suing the federal government, seeking control of approximately 18.5 million acres of land.
The lawsuit, filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeks control of land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management that covers roughly 34% of the entire state. Gov. Spencer Cox, Attorney General Sean Reyes, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President J. Stuart Adams announced the lawsuit at a news conference on Utah's Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning.
"It is time we stand for our land," Gov. Cox told a packed room of lawmakers, supporters of the litigation and news media.
Nearly 70% of the land in Utah is under federal control, a fact that has irritated Utah political leaders across the state for generations. Only Nevada has more federally-controlled lands at more than 80%.
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"They’ve kept this land and they shouldn’t have kept it. They should have turned it over to the state of Utah," said House Speaker Mike Schultz.
The litigation appears specifically designed to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to answer the question: Can the federal government hold "unappropriated" lands indefinitely? It does not go after national parks, national monuments, tribal or military lands, or land managed by the U.S. Forest Service, which have designated uses.
"Those are actions that have been taken by the federal government. There have been designations made. What we are talking about is the 34% of the land that has not received any designation," Gov. Cox told reporters.
The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Department of Interior declined to comment on the litigation. But the lawsuit is also in response to Bureau of Land Management decisions with which Utah policymakers vehemently disagree. Recently, the Bureau has closed trails in Grand County and proposed "thousands of additional miles" of additional roads in Utah, legislative leaders have claimed. The state also objects to management plans for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, as well as plans that limit Utah's energy portfolio.
"Utahns are losing access at record levels on this land. If we don’t stand up and do something, we’re going to blink our eyes and there’s thousands and thousands of more miles closed," Schultz said.
If Utah prevails in its litigation, Republican political leaders insist the state would manage the lands for public use including recreation, conservation and wildlife habitat, energy production, livestock grazing and resource use. In 2017, the legislature created what would become the Utah Department of Land Management — anticipating such litigation.
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Environmental groups blasted the litigation.
"This lawsuit isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. One hundred and thirty years ago, the people of Utah agreed to 'forever disclaim all right and title' to national public lands when Utah became a state. What part of 'forever' isn’t clear to you, governor? The property clause of the Constitution gives Congress, and only Congress, authority to transfer or dispose of federal lands. That’s the beginning, middle, and end of this lawsuit," said Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities in a statement.
Other groups like the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance said they would join the federal government in defending against the lawsuit.
"This is a stunt by the governor to take away federal land, land that's owned by all Americans, and hand it over to state politicians for short-sighted gain," Steve Bloch, the legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said on Tuesday. "Landscapes like the Dirty Devil, like Labyrinth Canyon, like Westwater Canyon or places that Americans and visitors from places around the world come to America to experience and enjoy."
The federal courts have not always agreed with the state on its objections to U.S. government land policy. Last year, a federal judge in Salt Lake City rejected the state's challenge to President Biden's decision to reinstate the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. The state is currently appealing that to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Arguments in that are scheduled for next month.
That case, challenging a president's use of the Antiquities Act, is also likely to go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
This story was originally published by Ben Winslow at Scripps News Salt Lake City.
