Groups battle wilds settlement

Environmental groups on Monday stepped up their challenge of last year's settlement between the state of Utah and the federal government over protecting wilderness.

In a filing to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and nine other organizations argued their case against the April 11, 2003, consent decree that removed wilderness protection from nearly 6 million acres of federal land in Utah.

The deal made by Gov. Mike Leavitt with Interior Secretary Gale Norton stated the federal government would no longer protect potential wilderness from development while waiting for Congress to determine if the lands should be formally declared as wilderness.

The settlement, which was approved by U.S. District Chief Judge Dee Benson, ended a legal battle between the state and federal governments that began in 1996, under the Clinton administration.

It sets aside interim wilderness protection given by Clinton's Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, to nearly 6 million acres of federal land in Utah. Conservationists here had identified 9 million acres they believed qualified as wilderness.

The settlement left 3.2 million acres of federal lands in Utah as potential wilderness, areas identified by a Bureau of Land Management study completed in 1991. That study has been criticized by both sides in the debate.

The environmental groups went to the appeals court last year to overturn the deal. Monday's filing is their first, but the court has motions pending from the state and federal government to dismiss the case.

Among the arguments the environmental groups made in their filing was that the agreement was unconstitutional because it binds the BLM under future administrations.

Also questioned was the authority of the court to approve a consent decree that eliminated the BLM's ability to conduct wilderness inventories as well as to designate and protect wilderness study areas.

In a press release issued Monday, the groups label the settlement a back-room deal "rife with irregularities" and cite Interior Department memos they say show the agency had nearly completed settlement negotiations just a day after Utah raised its claims.

"The settlement was not reached through an arms-length, fair negotiation process," said Stephen Bloch, an attorney for SUWA. "It was a vehicle for the Bush administration to pursue its anti-wilderness agenda."

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