Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has been sued by the
state of Utah for his decision to reopen the process of wilderness
designation (HCN, 9/2/96).
Filed Oct. 14 in
federal court, the suit challenges the legality of Babbitt’s
“re-inventory” of Bureau of Land Management lands in Utah without
public involvement. Babbitt announced on July 24 that he would send
experts to Utah to study the agency’s roadless lands, but that the
public would be involved after the staff had completed its work,
reports the Salt Lake Tribune. Wilderness has been a bitterly
disputed issue since the state BLM identified 2.1 million acres of
potential wilderness while environmentalists said 5.7 million acres
qualified for protection.
Joining the state’s
suit were the Utah Association of Counties and the Office of State
Institutional Trust Lands Administration. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
told a press conference that the suit represented the fight for
“freedom as a whole in this country.”
*Betsy
Marston
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Utah tells Babbitt to back off.
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