{"id":17968,"date":"2024-11-20T18:02:58","date_gmt":"2024-11-20T18:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=17968"},"modified":"2024-11-20T18:02:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20T18:02:58","slug":"with-trump-back-in-the-white-house-what-will-happen-with-utah-public-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=17968","title":{"rendered":"With Trump back in the White House, what will happen with Utah public lands?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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President Barack Obama created Bears Ears National Monument in 2016, declaring it would ensure future generations can enjoy its scenic and historic landscape.<\/p>\n

\"\"
President Donald Trump surrounded by Utah elected officials at the Utah Capitol on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017, as he signed a presidential proclamation to shrink Bears Ears National Monument. Photo by Francisco Kjolseth\/The Salt Lake Tribune<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump slashed its size the next year, \u201cto reverse federal overreach.\u201d Then President Joe Biden restored its original boundaries \u2014 a move the state of Utah is suing over.<\/p>\n

With Trump\u2019s win, Utah Republican Rep. John Curtis predicted Tuesday night, the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument \u2014 which Trump also dramatically reduced \u2014 will shrink again.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s election to a second term will empower him to reshape the nation\u2019s energy and environmental policies \u2014 and few states feel the impact of national public land decisions as much as Utah, where the federal government owns about 69% of the state. Those roughly 37.4 million acres are held in monuments, parks, forests and in \u201cunappropriated\u201d swaths managed by the Bureau of Land Management, which the state is demanding it relinquish in a Supreme Court filing.<\/p>\n

A Trump administration could make decisions related to three of Utah\u2019s pending major land lawsuits \u2014 from the state\u2019s challenge to the monuments\u2019 sizes to its demand for the handover of \u201cunappropriated\u201d federally owned public land inside its borders to its attack on the BLM\u2019s new public lands rule, which puts conservation on equal footing with uses like grazing, mining and recreation.<\/p>\n

Here are some ways a Trump administration is likely to change Utah.<\/p>\n

Revisiting Utah\u2019s monuments<\/strong><\/h2>\n

If Trump decides to shrink Utah\u2018s monuments again, Utah\u2018s lawsuit challenging Biden\u2019s 2021 restorations will be \u201cmoot,\u201d said Steve Bloch, senior staff attorney for the environmental nonprofit Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.<\/p>\n

Such an action would revive another lawsuit, filed by SUWA and other conservation groups in 2017, which challenged the legality of Trump\u2019s 2016 reduction of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.<\/p>\n

The Native American tribes that make up the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition \u2014 the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Pueblo of Zuni, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and the Ute Indian Tribe \u2014 also filed suit against Trump that year, arguing the monument reductions were \u201cin violation of the United States Constitution and the Antiquities Act of 1906.\u201d<\/p>\n

At SUWA, \u201cour work is going to be to make sure that the monuments stay in place,\u201d Bloch said.<\/p>\n

Project 2025, the 900-page policy document created by the Heritage Foundation as a blueprint for a second Trump term, doesn\u2019t mention Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante specifically.<\/p>\n

But it calls for a review of all national monuments, taking a case to the U.S. Supreme Court to get a ruling on a president\u2019s authority to reduce their size, and the repeal of the Antiquities Act of 1906, the law that allows presidents to declare them.<\/p>\n

The chapter devoted to the U.S. Department of the Interior, the federal agency that oversees public lands, was written by former acting Bureau of Land Management Director William Perry Pendley.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough President Trump courageously ordered a review of national monument designations, the result of that review was insufficient in that only two national monuments in one state (Utah) were adjusted,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cMonuments in Maine and Oregon, for example, should have been adjusted downward given the finding of [Interior] Secretary Ryan Zinke\u2019s review that they were improperly designated. The new administration\u2019s review will permit a fresh look at past monument decrees and new ones by President Biden.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aaron Weiss, deputy director for the environmental nonprofit Center for Western Priorities, said Trump\u2018s election to a second term will \u201clikely have extreme consequences on Utah\u2019s public lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUtahns love their national monuments and value the balanced stewardship of public lands,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf the upcoming Trump administration supports Utah\u2019s land grab lawsuit, resumes fire-sale oil and gas leasing, or touches Utah\u2019s national monuments, it will quickly discover it\u2019s touched a political third rail across the country and in Utah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Challenges to conservation and road closures<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A new presidential administration means a change in personnel, which will affect all federal agencies in the executive branch. That includes the Department of the Interior, which houses the BLM.<\/p>\n

Utah in June asked a federal court to throw out the BLM\u2019s recently published Public Lands Rule, which puts conservation on par with commercial uses \u2014 like oil and gas, grazing, mining and logging \u2014 on public land. That litigation has not \u201cadvanced all that far,\u201d Bloch said.<\/p>\n

The BLM finalized that rule this summer after completing the rule-making process and reviewing public comments.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2018s BLM, if it wants to revoke the rule, would have to undergo a similar rulemaking process. \u201cIt\u2018s not as simple as waving your hand and saying, \u2019We\u2018re not doing this,\u2019\u201d Bloch said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2018s not only going through the process of seeking public comment,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it\u2018s explaining and having a rational basis for reversing course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Utah has also appealed the BLM\u2019s closing of roads near Moab in a travel management plan finalized last year. That litigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s new BLM could take a new look at the plan, Bloch said, or work to undo the closures through litigation.<\/p>\n

The BlueRibbon Coalition, a national off-roading and recreation advocacy group based in Idaho, separately challenged the road closures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope the new Administration and Congress will prioritize putting Americans first,\u201d said Ben Burr, the group\u2019s executive director, \u201cby permanently reforming the Antiquities Act, reversing any lame duck land grabs, protecting critical infrastructure, and enacting policies that keep our public lands open, accessible, and free.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a September interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, current BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said that despite the possibility of an administration change, she believes Biden\u2019s BLM \u201cset the bar at a different place\u201d by addressing climate change, engaging with tribal nations and promoting conservation on public lands.<\/p>\n

Return of Trump\u2019s \u2018energy dominance\u2019 agenda<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trump\u2019s return to the White House will be a boon for the fossil fuel industry.<\/p>\n

Project 2025 outlines plans to make oil and gas extraction on public lands easier by rolling back environmental regulations \u201cthat potentially burden the development or utilization of domestically produced energy resources\u201d and reinstating a 2017 order to hold more sales for drilling leases.<\/p>\n

While the Biden administration has worked to shift away from coal production, the plan encourages an increase.<\/p>\n

Curtis, newly elected to the U.S. Senate seat Mitt Romney is leaving, said Tuesday night he will \u201cadvocate for energy security around the world and energy dominance.\u201d He also shared that he voted for Trump.<\/p>\n

Some of Biden\u2019s changes to oil and gas production on federal lands \u2014 like a rule that raised royalty rates for oil drilling and increased bond payments \u2014 can\u2018t be rolled back overnight, Bloch said. Overturning the past administration\u2019s regulations will require a review process and public input.<\/p>\n

The energy available from federal lands is too important not to develop, asserts Western Energy Alliance President Kathleen Sgamma, who also helped write Project 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love to not have to develop on federal lands, but you simply can\u2019t in the West,\u201d Sgamma told Wyoming Public Radio in July. \u201cThere\u2019s just too much oil and natural gas resource that is on or underneath federal lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities, noted in a Wednesday statement the call in Project 2025 to \u201cprioritize even more lands for oil and gas drilling.\u201d Voters across the West and the country consistently say they support public lands protection over extraction, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica\u2019s parks, monuments, forests and public lands are universally popular, regardless of political party,\u201d Rokala said. \u201cIf President-Elect Trump and his administration try to sell off public lands, open lands to destruction, or put corporate profits ahead of public access, they will be met with swift resistance across the political spectrum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Biden administration in 2021 named the goal of conserving 30% of the United States\u2019 lands and waters by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States and the world face a profound climate crisis,\u201c that announcement read. \u201dWe have a narrow moment to pursue action at home and abroad in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of that crisis and to seize the opportunity that tackling climate change presents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has called climate change \u201ca hoax.\u201d In a 2022 interview with Fox News, he said, \u201cThe climate\u2019s always been changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Bears Ears buttes, the namesake of Bears Ears National Monument, on April 10, 2021.\u00a0 President Barack Obama established the monument; President Donald Trump significantly shrank it and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument; President Joe Biden expanded both monuments. Photo by Leah Hogston\/The Salt Lake Tribune<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Housing on public land<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Trump has also posed development on public lands as a solution to the country\u2019s housing crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Donald Trump has said is that we have a lot of federal lands that aren\u2018t being used for anything,\u201d said JD Vance, Trump\u2019s running mate, during the vice presidential debate in October. \u201cThey\u2019re not being used for national parks. They\u2019re not being used. And they could be places where we build a lot of housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Mike Lee, for the second year in a row, proposed the Helping Open Underutilized Space to Ensure Shelter (HOUSES Act) in hopes of speeding up the process of selling public lands destined to become homes.<\/p>\n

A 2022 report from Lee\u2019s office estimated that his legislation would fill 35% of the housing shortage in Utah and increase the number of people who could afford the average home in Utah by 21% \u2014 but critics question if it would result in a single affordable unit in the West.<\/p>\n

The view from county commissioners in the south<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Washington County officials, who are locked in a battle with the Biden administration over the controversial Northern Corridor Highway, are enthused about Trump\u2019s victory. Approval of the 4.5-mile road, which would bisect the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area, was granted in 2021, during the waning weeks of the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n

After a lawsuit by Conserve Southwest Utah and other conservation groups, that approval was placed on hold pending the outcome of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, and county officials are now predicting that approval will be revoked, which they say could affect area trails and worsen traffic congestion in the St. George metropolitan area.<\/p>\n

Washington County Commissioner Adam Snow, who also emerged victorious in his re-election bid, said he believes Trump\u2019s success could signal better days ahead \u2013 not only for the Northern Corridor, but also for management of the state\u2019s public lands.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration has allowed Conserve Southwest Utah\u2019s influence \u201cto destroy decades of cooperative management,\u201d Snow told The Tribune via email. \u201cWith Trump in office, federal agencies will once again be our partners in balancing conservation and infrastructure needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington County Attorney Eric Clarke said he shares the commissioner\u2019s optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the victory,\u201d Clarke said, \u201cwe have additional tools to protect our climbing areas and trails. Washington County will keep advocating for our area\u2019s recreation and transportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garfield County Commissioner Leland Pollock, who describes himself as a straight shooter and has labeled environmental groups as terrorists, said he is equally excited about Trump\u2019s victory. He\u2019s been a vocal critic of the Biden administration, which he accuses of doing a poor job of managing his public lands in his county and locking them up to limit cattle grazing and use by off-road vehicles.<\/p>\n

With Trump back in office, Pollock argued, Utah can get rid of wildfires by thinning the trees on national forest lands in the state, which he said will also help restore water aquifers. He added that a Trump presidency should also open up access to roads in Garfield County, 93% of which consists of public lands controlled by the federal government.<\/p>\n

The public doesn\u2019t want every road on Utah\u2019s public lands closed, he said. \u201cPeople living on the Wasatch Front want to be able to come down and use our public lands that belong to everybody,\u201d he said. \u201cIf they don\u2019t have access, they can\u2019t go out and camp or ride on their roads with their side-by-sides and ATVs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pollock has also criticized the BLM\u2019s draft resource management plan for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, which the agency wrote after Biden reversed Trump\u2019s reductions to its size.<\/p>\n

The plan could wipe out grazing, he said, bankrupt ranchers and farmers, close some roads and stop OHV use, and eliminate target shooting. Once Trump assumes office, Pollock said he believes that plan will change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy for the country,\u201d Pollock said. \u201cI\u2019m happy for these rural and public-land counties that have suffered. And there is no getting around it, we really have suffered. \u2026 Every time we turn around and try to get something done, they [federal officials] come up with a new rule that is adversarial to multiple use\u201d on public lands.\n\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Source: <\/em> politics.einnews.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Barack Obama created Bears Ears National Monument in 2016, declaring it would ensure future generations can enjoy its scenic and historic landscape. President Donald Trump surrounded by Utah elected officials at the Utah Capitol on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017, as he signed a presidential proclamation to shrink Bears Ears National Monument. Photo by Francisco […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}