By AMY LONG
In the past year, Utah has witnessed numerous agitations over environmental issues.
Along with the controversy over the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the proposal to drain Lake Powell, a bill has been introduced in Congress advocating enlarging Arches National Park.
Last Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on National Parks and Lands held a hearing on Congressman Chris Cannon’s proposed bil.
The area covered in the Arches Expansion Bill contains deep canyon narrows and seven free-standing arches, said Jeff Hartley, press secretary for Cannon.
The local community is favorable to the proposal, Hartley said. The increased tourism expected as a result of the expansion will bring an economic benefit, he said.
“The biggest response with the expansion of the park is that (the expansion) will only bring more people to a fragile area,” Kris Johnson, a citizen of the Moab area, said.
By trying to protect the park, we may end up destroying it, she said
Sam Taylor, a newspaper editor from the Moab area, said that things seemed calm and there was not much controversy over the bill.
The Expansion Bill was developed fairly, Hartley said. In the process of creating the bill, they held hearings, notified the local community, worked with the Bureau of Land Management and gained the support of the National Park Service.
This contrasts with the circumstances under which Grand Staircase-Escalante became a monument, Hartley said.
According to Hartley, Cannon is not neccessarily against the Grand Staircase-Escalante monument, but the way it was created.
Two months before Clinton’s reelection to the presidency, there were rumors that he might create the monument. When people asked questions concerning the possibility of the monument, they were told by the Clinton administration that the land would not be given national protection.
In spite of the assurances of the Clinton administration, 1.7 million acres were designated part of the new national monument.
In a statement to congress concerning the Grand Staircase-Escalante monument at the time of its creation, Senator Orrin Hatch said, “The process by which it was created has engendered … considerable distrust and animosity toward the Administration.
“And who can blame Utahns for feeling this way? Would you graciously give up your backyard … without so much as a chance to register an opinion?”
Clinton sought other states’ approval for the monument, but did not inform the people of Utah about it, Hartley said.
Congressman Jim Hansen of Utah is planning to propose a bill soon that would limit the power of the president to create national monuments, Hartley said.
The northern part of the monument contains unique rock formations. Three to four hundred thousand acres really do deserve protection, Hartley said.
However, the land to the south is a wasteland, Hartley said. It’s clear that the Clinton administration wanted to lock up natural resources under the southern land, Hartley said.
The Arches Expansion bill was not a surprise to anyone, Hartley said.
Both the National Park Service and the BLM are in favor of the bill, Hartley added.
The Grand Staircase-Escalante monument is still an object of congressional debate, mainly because it contains School Trust Fund lands, Hartley said.
When Utah became a state, several areas of land were given to Utah for the support of its school systems, Hartley said. These lands, known as School Trust Fund lands, are the property of Utah Schools Trust.
They cannot be taken away without adequate compensation, Hartley said. The land which would become part of Arches National Park did contain some Trust Fund land.
That land has been swapped for land outside of the proposed new boundaries, Hartley said. There is strong bipartisan support for the Arches Expansion Bill. Forty-nine or 50 congressmen cosponsor the bill.
Congressmen Jim Hansen and Merrill Cook are also in favor of the bill, Hartley said.
