{"id":10120,"date":"2024-10-26T08:55:11","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T14:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=10120"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:31:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:31:08","slug":"public-lands-wyoming-backs-utahs-quest-to-seize-blm-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=10120","title":{"rendered":"Public Lands &#8211; Wyoming backs Utah&#8217;s quest to seize BLM Lands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-084934.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10121\" src=\"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-084934.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1207\" height=\"288\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-084934.jpg 1207w, https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-084934-300x72.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-084934-1024x244.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-084934-768x183.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1207px) 100vw, 1207px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-085016.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10122\" src=\"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-085016.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"802\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-085016.jpg 802w, https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-085016-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sbbch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Screenshot-2024-10-26-085016-768x530.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 802px) 100vw, 802px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wyoming is backing an effort by Utah to wrest ownership of U.S. Bureau of Land Management land from the federal government, arguing that states could \u201cdevelop the land to attract prospective citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an amicus brief filed Tuesday, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska and the Arizona Legislature expressed support for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wyofile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20240820100439497_Utah-Bill-of-Complaint-and-Brief-in-Support.pdf\">Utah\u2019s quest<\/a>\u00a0to take its case straight to the U.S. Supreme Court. Utah wants to own BLM land that\u2019s currently the property of all Americans, saying among other things that the federal holdings deprive the Beehive State of an equal footing with other states.<\/p>\n<aside><\/aside>\n<p>Gov. Mark Gordon announced the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wyofile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/No.-160-Amicus-in-Support-of-Plaintiff.pdf\">Wyoming plea<\/a>\u00a0this week. Wyoming\u2019s U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman lent her name to a separate\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wyofile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241022160207636_Utah-Amicus-Brief-2024.10.22.pdf\">amicus brief<\/a>\u00a0supporting Utah, teaming with U.S. Sens. Mitt Romney, Mike Lee and other Western members of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-six Wyoming legislators\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wyofile.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/20241022142509821_UT-v.-US-Wyo.-Leg.-AC.pdf\">also asked<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday to join the action if the Supreme Court agrees to take up the issue. Those 10 state senators and 16 representatives (see list below) say they might not stop after gaining state ownership of BLM\u2019s property which is largely sagebrush and desert prairie steppe.<\/p>\n<p>Wyoming legislators\u2019 could extend their claims to \u201call former federal territorial lands \u2026 now held by the United States \u2026 [including] parks, monuments, wilderness, etc.,\u201d their brief states.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government has until Nov. 21 to respond to what conservationists call a \u201cland grab.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis lawsuit is as frivolous as they come and a blatant power-grab by a handful of Utah politicians whose escalating aggression has become an attack on all public lands as we know them,\u201d Jocelyn Torres, an officer with the Conservation Lands Foundation, a Colorado nonprofit, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Unappropriated<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Utah and its allies argue that BLM lands are \u201cunappropriated\u201d and should be the property of Western States. Because of the federal government\u2019s \u201cindefinite retention\u201d of 18.5 million BLM acres, \u201cUtah is deprived of basic and fundamental sovereign powers as to more than a third of its territory,\u201d its bill of complaint states.<\/p>\n<p>Sagebrush rebellion efforts like Utah\u2019s legal gambit have popped up \u2014 and fallen short \u2014 repeatedly since the movement arose in the 1970s. They\u2019ve been countered in part by western states ceding \u2014 in their constitutions at statehood \u2014 ownership of federal property to the government and all Americans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe people inhabiting this state do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof,\u201d the<a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Article_21,_Wyoming_Constitution#:~:text=The%20people%20inhabiting%20this%20state,title%20thereto%20shall%20have%20been\">\u00a0Wyoming Constitution<\/a>\u00a0states. Further, Western states received federal property at statehood \u2014 two square miles in many surveyed 36-square-mile townships in Wyoming \u2014 to support schools and other institutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly Congress can transfer or dispose of federal lands,\u201d the Lands Foundation said.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Gordon sees it differently.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWyoming believes it is essential for the states to be recognized as the primary authority when it comes to unappropriated lands within our borders,\u201d he said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The BLM manages 28% of the land in Wyoming, the brief states, most of it \u201cunappropriated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leaving vexing legal complexities to Utah, Wyoming\u2019s brief focuses on \u201charms that federal ownership of unappropriated lands uniquely imposes on western States on a daily basis,\u201d the amicus filing states. \u201cIn short, western States\u2019 sovereign authority to address issues of local concern is curtailed, and billions of dollars are diverted away from western States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A ruling in favor of Utah would \u201cbegin to level the playing field \u2026 and restore the proper balance of federalism between western States and the federal government,\u201d the brief states.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wyofile.com\/wyoming-backs-utahs-quest-to-seize-blm-land-may-want-other-fed-property\/\">READ THE REST<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wyoming is backing an effort by Utah to wrest ownership of U.S. Bureau of Land Management land from the federal government, arguing that states could \u201cdevelop the land to attract prospective citizens.\u201d In an amicus brief filed Tuesday, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska and the Arizona Legislature expressed support for\u00a0Utah\u2019s quest\u00a0to take its case straight to the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-public-lands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10124,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10120\/revisions\/10124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}