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Utah House adopts concurrent resolution criticizing Secretarial Order No. 3310, urges federal process be open
Summary
The House passed HCR14, condemning the process used in issuing Secretarial Order No. 3310 and urging the U.S. Department of Interior to preserve open land-management processes; the measure passed 67-4 and will go to the Senate.
The Utah House on March 1 adopted HCR14, a concurrent resolution that condemns the process used in issuing Secretarial Order No. 3310 and urges the U.S. Department of the Interior to maintain open resource-management processes with affected counties. Representative Watkins moved to uncircle and present the resolution, reading excerpts of the governor’s remarks to Congress about the order’s effects.
Watkins said the order had "undone years of collaborative and costly work between county officials, environmental organizations and natural resource and industries," and warned the secretarial action could "have a profoundly negative impact on public lands protection and natural resource development in Utah." He urged support, citing potential economic harms to counties that depend on mineral and energy development.
Representative Cox argued the resolution did not go far enough and advanced a constitutional contention: "It is my contention that the federal government does not have any U.S. Constitutional authority to own almost all the land that it currently claims," he said, urging a stronger stance. Representative Hemingway and others supported the resolution as properly framed and called for sending the message to the federal government and Utah's congressional delegation.
After floor debate, the House voted to pass HCR14, 67 yes to 4 no. The resolution will be transmitted to the Senate for consideration and is to be sent to the federal agencies and local counties named in the text.
