Utah filed a lawsuit aimed at reclaiming authority over public lands within the state that remain under the jurisdiction of federal bureaucrats who have no plans to turn them over for local oversight.
On Tuesday, state officials announced their request for the Supreme Court to review the federal government’s authority to hold unappropriated lands indefinitely, a practice that has frustrated western communities in areas hamstrung from development by burdensome restrictions.
“It is not a secret that we live in the most beautiful state in the nation,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said. “But, when the federal government controls two-thirds of Utah, we are extremely limited in what we can do to actively manage and protect our natural resources.”
More than 60 percent of Utah remains under federal authority, with President Joe Biden claiming more through the controversial expansion of two major national monuments early in the administration. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) under Biden has also established a framework to approve third-party leases of federal property for “conservation.”
Tuesday’s legal effort underscores a decades-long tension between western states and the federal government, as they wrestle over control of vast land areas. For years, locals have sought permission to utilize the land for harvesting timber, oil, and gas, grazing animals, and pursuing other opportunities, but Washington bureaucrats have blocked their efforts. The lawsuit filed by Utah raises issue with “unappropriated” land held by the Bureau of Land Management, noting that 34 percent of “total state territory” is unappropriated land under federal
