The Utah wilderness bill is dead again, but not
without a struggle. In mid-March, Alaska Republican Sen. Frank
Murkowski sent the Utah delegation’s controversial plan opening 2
million acres of southern Utah to development on to the Senate as
part of an omnibus parks bill. The bill linked wilderness
designation of 1.2 million acres in Utah with more than 50 land
measures including protection for 17,500 acres in the Sterling
Forest along the New Jersey-New York border and trail improvement
in Colorado.
Utah Republican Rep. Jim Hansen
said the strategy was to include enough feel-good measures to
ensure that congressional support could overturn a presidential
veto.
But Hansen didn’t count on the national
stature of Utah wilderness. Responding to alerts from environmental
groups, environmentalists from around the country told their
senators once again not to sacrifice Utah’s redrock canyons. Some
listened. On March 25, Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., launched a
filibuster, even though he has been a staunch proponent of
protection for Sterling Forest. The next day, Sen. Ted Kennedy,
D-Mass., attempted to add a minimum-wage hike to the already
weighty package, a measure opposed by most Republicans. On day
three, eight votes shy of the 60 needed to overturn a filibuster,
Republicans declared defeat.
Murkowski blamed
Eastern senators for blocking “the largest environmental package of
the 104th Congress.” He told the Senate: “Let us be realistic and
recognize New Jersey and other states … look at the West as a
playground, a recreation area for themselves and others of that
elitist group.”
* Heather Abel
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Utah wilderness proposal rises and dies.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
