Letter: Public lands are already ours, use money for education

I'm tired of "take back our public lands" talk. They are already ours. Our state leaders are trying to make us believe that education will benefit and we will gain billions of dollars. They don't mention the costs. The only way to make the money they talk about is to sell or lease our lands to oil and coal companies.

Oil shale is an iffy proposition, and coal is already losing its value as we use more of the cleaner burning natural gas. These are polluting industries that have a great health cost in increased autism, asthma, pregnancy problems, ADHD, anxiety and cancer.

Our leaders are also not telling us how they will pay for managing any lands that are left for the public. We will lose the federal money we've been getting for these lands and gain the costs of maintaining trails, campgrounds, roads, fighting fires, etc.

If you are a hiker, biker, ATV rider, camper, lover of nature, owner of a cabin on leased public land, photographer, hunter, fisherman, etc., you are in for a great loss. The national parks will be left but is that where you do most of your recreating? We will also lose billions of dollars that come from the outdoor industry and the loss of the businesses that come to Utah because of the outdoor opportunities for their employees.

We will be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. Besides all this, the lawsuit will cost millions for a cause our own state lawyers don't think we can win. We could be using this money for education.

Gary Nichols

West Jordan