House panel to consider bill on Utah wilderness

For the first time in 20 years of battles, a bill that would put one-sixth of all Utah land into formal wilderness areas will receive a congressional hearing.

The "America's Red Rock Wilderness" bill pushed heavily by national environmental groups will have a hearing on Oct. 1 before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands, the subcommittee announced Thursday.

"This part of our country is some of the most remarkably pristine and beautiful land in the world and this bill would ensure that it stays that way forever," said Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., who has sponsored the bill since 1994. Those areas include places like Cedar Mesa, the San Rafael Swell and the Green River.

He took over sponsorship of it when former Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, left the House. However, the current bill would put 9.4 million acres into wilderness areas. Owens' original bill in 1989 would have set aside 5.1 million acres, and much of what he originally sought was later put into the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Most Utah members of Congress have fought Hinchey's bill through the years contending it would stop oil, mineral and other development on many less-than-pristine lands they say do not qualify as wilderness. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who has opposed the bill, is the ranking Republican on the subcommittee that is holding the hearing.

Hinchey said earlier this year that larger Democratic majorities resulting from the last election increased the likelihood that his bill might move, and for the first time it is indeed receiving a hearing. Environmental groups hailed that step, while their critics bemoaned it.

"This is a historic moment in the long effort to protect Utah's magnificent wilderness landscapes throughout the state," said Scott Groene, executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and a former congressional aide to Owens.

"Some of Utah's most spectacular places will be protected from off-road vehicle damage, water pollution, and oil wells; hunters, anglers and families will have opportunities to experience the overwhelming quiet and awe that these landscapes offer."

Myke Bybee, the Sierra Club's public lands and wilderness representative, said, "The tide is decisively turning away from the Bush administration's 'drill anywhere' approach to public lands. It's a new day for Utah wilderness."