Considerations should include Utahns' interest in water rights, watersheds, roads and access, he said. In the past, Utah officials went in different directions. "They have not only gone different directions, but I'm not sure there was an overall direction for them to go," he said.

A perfect example is the binding agreement the state signed with the federal government in 1999 regarding locking up resources when the Legislature and county did not know about it, he said.

McKeachnie later said the comment referred to establishment of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Maybe the office should be set up quickly and the Legislature could take a look at it in a year or so, Hatch said.

Funding would come from the state Division of Natural Resources, the governor's office and the RS2477 project, which deals with battle with the federal government over establishment and ownership of rural dirt roads in Utah, McKeachnie said. The State Energy Office could be transferred into the governor's office, and the Energy Office could have a bit of money left over for administration of the new policy group, according to one plan he mentioned.

Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said should a public lands policy office be established, environmental interests must be represented. Groene made the statement as he emerged from an hourlong meeting with Huntsman.

McKeachnie said the advisory board should have less than 10 members.

---

E-mail: bau@desnews.com