SALT LAKE CITY — Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Utah's petition in a lawsuit staking claim to millions of acres of public lands in the state, reaction poured in from state leaders and local public land advocates.
“It’s really the birthright of all Americans to be able to enjoy these federal lands," said Steve Bloch, legal director with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, "and what the governor and these other elected officials are trying to accomplish is just on behalf of a handful of small donors and developers."
Over the summer, Utah filed a lawsuit with the court in hopes of gaining control of 18.5 million acres of land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and covers roughly 34 percent of the entire state.
The Supreme Court denied the lawsuit on Monday.
“It was never Utah land in the first instance, these are federal public lands managed on behalf of Utahns and all Americans by the federal government. And what Utah was trying to accomplish was the sale of those lands, selling them off to the highest bidder so they could be drilled and developed,” added Bloch.
According to Bloch, when Utah joined the nation in 1896, the bargain was that the state had to forever disclaim its interest in federal public lands.
“You read the legal filings, and that's really the goal of the state's lawsuit, is to see them sold and developed so we can increase our tax base so we can be more like Florida," he said. "I don't know any Utahn ... that wants our state to be more like Florida.”
In a joint statement after the court's ruling, Governor Spencer Cox and other state leaders expressed disappointment in the court's ruling.
"Utah remains able and willing to challenge any BLM land management decisions that harm Utah," the statement read. "We are also heartened to know the incoming administration shares our commitments to the principle of 'multiple use' for these federal lands.
"We will continue to fight to keep public lands in public hands because it is our stewardship, heritage and home."
