History rhymes in Utah

By Christian Probasco, 2-20-10

	The Little Grand Canyon in the San Rafael Swell, as seen from the Wedge Overlook

“The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.”
-Mark Twain

A document leaked from the Department of Interior regarding the possible creation of new national monuments in Utah and several other states has the state’s political leaders upset. Senator Bennett has called the department’s actions “unacceptable.”Senator Orrin Hatch complained that the present administration would prefer to “dictate to us how our lands will be managed.” Governor Gary Herbert will supposedly harangue Interior Secretary Ken Salazar about the list tomorrow.

The document names the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa as candidates for designation as monuments. Cedar Mesa, close to Natural Bridges National Monument and Valley of the Gods in southeastern Utah, is famous for its scenery and remote canyons, and for its high density of Indian ruins, Indian art and artifacts. The San Rafael Swell, in central Utah, is equally scenic but criss-crossed by mining roads and Jeep trails. It is also dotted with old uranium mines and mining camps, and bisected by I-70.

Interior Department spokesman Kendra Barkoff said that the list was a preliminary internal working document prepared at Salazar’s request. 

Utahans are concerned President Obama will use the Antiquities Act as President Clinton did to declare the 1.7 million acre Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. Documents and e-mails from the Department of Interior, which had advocated close local collaboration with locals prior to the declaration, focused on blocking an underground coal mine on the Kaiparowits Plateau. The mine could have injected tens of millions of dollars into the local economy. Its environmental impacts, according to a National Environmental Policy Act study, would have been “minor” or “negligible.”

Clinton declared the monument from the rim of the Grand Canyon, in Arizona. None of Utah’s senators or representatives, nor Governor Leavitt, who is a darned nice guy even when he is being treated poorly, were invited to the event.

Attempts by the affected counties, the State of Utah and other states to reverse the declaration and limit the president’s power to declare monuments have so far gone nowhere. The Bush administration defended the monument proclamation.

Many Utahans were also reminded of President Lyndon Johnson’s expansion of Capitol Reef to six times its previous size in 1969. There were plenty of protests by locals and Utah politicians then, too. But again, nothing came of them.

In a Deseret News article, Scott Groene, executive director of Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, which has been advocating for another 9 million acres of federal wilderness in Utah, suggested that the inclusion of Cedar Mesa and the San Rafael Swell on the Interior Department’s list was “pushback” for Utah’s recent uppityness about state’s rights (the legislature recently passed resolutions opposing certain aspects of federal gun control and allowing Utah to opt out of federal health care programs).

Groene characterized the legislature’s advocacy of state sovereignty as “extreme.” His reaction was predictable. I’ll predict a few more things which should soon come to pass.

First, the list is going to push Utah’s legislators even further in the direction of reclaiming some measure of state sovereignty, especially with regard to public lands within Utah’s borders.

Second, there will be more talk amongst western governors, senators and representatives of curtailing the president’s power to declare monuments. Whether that talk will actually translate into meaningful change this time, I can’t predict. 

Third, the turnout at the Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL) rally at the Capitol Building in Salt Lake City on Feb. 23 is going to be big and grouchy.  The purpose of the rally, according to the organization’s literature is to “support key pieces of legislation being proposed by Representatives Mike Noel and Chris Herrod,” which would limit the authority of federal law enforcement officers when they are on state or county property, facilitate ATV access to city roads, advocate the state continue to fight for title to its roads and guarantee the State of Utah access to its own school trust lands.

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