A coalition of Utah Republicans has filed legislation invoking a 19th century mining law to block the Bureau of Land Management from implementing a series of travel management plans in the state that critics say emphasizes conservation over public access.
Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, on Tuesday filed S. 90, which would prohibit BLM from using federal funds “to finalize or implement” more than a dozen travel management plans until pending lawsuits are resolved over ownership of thousands of miles of roads crisscrossing federal lands in the Beehive State. Sen. John Curtis is co-sponsoring the bill.
Rep. Mike Kennedy, vice chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands, has sponsored a companion bill, H.R. 376, which is co-sponsored by Reps. Burgess Owens, Blake Moore and Celeste Maloy.
The issue revolves around thousands of miles of dirt routes the state and numerous counties argue were authorized under Revised Statute 2477, an 1866 law that allowed for the construction of roads across unreserved public lands. While Congress repealed R.S. 2477 in 1976, it grandfathered in valid rights of way that existed at that time.
