A coalition of 89 House Democrats led by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Tuesday urging him to take administrative action to protect energy-rich Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Utah from development while Congress continues to work on legislation to designate them as wilderness.

“As Congress debates the best means of preserving Utah’s unprotected wilderness, these lands remain at risk. We respectfully request that you exercise the considerable authority granted to the secretary of the Interior under existing laws to protect the wilderness qualities of these lands until Congress sees to their protection,” the coalition wrote.

“Given the common belief that much of this land should be safeguarded, it makes sense for the Interior Department to step in and temporarily protect these lands while Congress and state officials sort out the best way to protect these precious acres for this and future generations of Americans to enjoy and admire,” the lawmakers said.

“These are the very scenic lands that the previous [Republican] administration hoped to turn into off-road vehicle playgrounds and oil and gas fields. Implementing the recommendations we set forward in our letter will help restore balance while the legislative process moves forward.”

Hinchey is the chief sponsor of the Red Rock Wilderness Act (HR 1925), which seeks to designate 9.4 million acres of energy-rich federal land in southern Utah as wilderness, thus barring oil and natural gas production, mining, road and dam construction, off-road vehicle use and other activities. The bill went before a House Natural Resources subcommittee in early October, but it hasn’t been marked up by the full committee.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced the bill in the Senate in April. It was referred to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, but no action has been taken.

The legislation seeks wilderness designations for certain federal portions of the red rock canyons of the Colorado Plateau and the Great Basin Deserts in Utah, including the Zion and Mojave Desert, the Grand Staircase-Escalante, Moab-La Sal Canyons, Henry Mountains, Glen Canyon, San Juan-Anasazi area, Canyonlands Basin, San Rafael Swell area, Book Cliffs and Uinta Basin.

While widely supported by environmentalists, the Hinchey legislation is opposed by the Utah state legislature. In early 2008 both the Utah Senate and House of Representatives passed a resolution urging Congress “not to enact federal legislation designating additional ‘wilderness’ on public lands within Utah without the unanimous support of Utah’s congressional delegation.”

“Oil and gas and mining resources are the roots of our economy in Utah. We cannot afford to let environmental elitists and New York politicians lock away these public lands from the Utah public,” said state Sen. Mike Dmitrich, the chief sponsor of the bill in the Utah Senate, at the time (see Daily GPI, March 3, 2008).

Hinchey has been trying to halt oil and gas activity on BLM land in Utah since early 2007 (see Daily GPI, March 9, 2007).

Key Democrats in the coalition are Reps. Jim Moran of Virginia, Charles Rangel of New York, Lois Capps of California, Carolyn Maloney of New York, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, George Miller of California, Barney Frank of Massachusetts, Raul Grijalva of Arizona, Frank Pallone of New Jersey, Henry Waxman of California and Jay Inslee of Washington.

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