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Senate backs HCR 13 urging cautious federal wilderness designations after heated debate
Summary
The Utah Senate adopted HCR 13 urging Congress, as it finalizes BLM wilderness withdrawals, to protect state water rights, relocate state school sections outside wilderness study areas, avoid areas of severe conflict and oppose executive expansions; the measure drew a long floor debate over acreage and economic impacts.
The Utah Senate voted to adopt HCR 13, a concurrent resolution urging Congress to consider four state priorities as it finalizes Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wilderness designations: protect state water rights, relocate state school sections outside designated wilderness, exclude areas of severe conflict such as planned water developments, and resist expansion by executive order.
Senator Petersen, sponsor of the resolution, told colleagues the Legislature’s task force had reviewed BLM inventories and consulted counties, environmental groups and federal authorities before drafting the recommendation. He said the BLM’s initial inventory identified about 1,400,000 acres; after legal challenges that figure rose toward 1.9 million and…
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