N.Y. Demo pushes Utah wilderness bill

Legislation that would set aside 9.4 million acres in Utah as protected wilderness was introduced Wednesday by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y.

The bill was first introduced by the late Rep. Wayne Owens , D-Utah, in 1989. The Senate version is to be introduced today by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

"This bill would protect a natural treasure by designating a portion of Utah's spectacular red rock country as permanent wilderness," said Hinchey, who sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and the House Natural Resources Committee. "These 9.4 million acres largely look the way they did millions of years ago — no roads, no buildings and no oil rigs — and I intend to keep them that way."

The bill focuses on Bureau of Reclamation land, of which less than 1 percent is currently designated wilderness, Hinchey said.

The measure is endorsed by the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and more than 240 local and national conservation groups with the Utah Wilderness Coalition.