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In yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune, Tom Wharton's appeared under the headline "Public-lands bill may look better, but it's still a pig." His column is about Utah's proposed "Washington County Growth & Conservation Act of 2008" — a wilderness bill cut from shoddy cloth — and what, until recently, would have been deemed "unusually shoddy cloth." Unfortunately, our standards have fallen so low there is little that is unusual about this particular pig.
Wharton focuses his attention upon land sale provisions within this so-called "Wilderness" bill. He calls upon the conservation community and specifically upon 'national environmental groups' to oppose this bill. Wild Wilderness is with Wharton.
I'd like to add one thought not mentioned by Wharton. As a direct consequence of the Milton Friedmanesque 'Shock Doctrine' and the economic crisis now being inflicted upon the citizens of America by our elected leaders, we will soon be asked to sell off and/or privatize virtually every asset held in common, including our public lands. In that regard, America stands poised to become the next Pinochet's Chile.
Some will say, "nonsense, that will never happen." Others will say, "well perhaps just a little privatization would be okay, so long as the price is right and the money is well spent".
To both groups, I offer this thought:
At a fancy London dinner party, George Bernard Shaw is reputed to have asked Lady Astor, in front of others, if she would spend the night with him for a million pounds.
"Why yes Mr. Shaw, I suppose I would," she replied.
To which Shaw responded: "Well then, how about five pounds?"
"Mr. Shaw," the suddenly indignant Madame Astor retorted. "What do you think I am?"
"I've established that," Shaw replied. "What I am trying to establish now is the price."
With the era of mass, wholesale, privatization of America and its heritage laying before us, now is not the time for conservationists to be stepping onto this
avalanche slope. Or to use a different metaphor, now is not the time to be distracted with the temptation to pinch pawns -- not when we are threatened with almost imminent check-mate.
Scott
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Wharton: Public-lands bill may look better, but it's still a pig
By Tom Wharton Tribune Columnist 04/16/2008
When it comes to public land management, anything hatched in Nevada is almost always guaranteed to be bad.
That is, after all, the state that launched the Sagebrush Rebellion to
privatize public lands in the 1970s. It's where activists blazed an
illegal road to protest closures on national forest property near Elko.
Las Vegas' ongoing attempt to steal water from Utah's west desert could
have negative effects on Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge and the
Great Salt Lake.
In the past few years, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid calling
the shots, some public lands around burgeoning Las Vegas have been
sold. Reid's sale of public lands no doubt got Sen. Bob Bennett,
R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, thinking. They are again
proposing to sell off Bureau of Land Management property in Washington
County and the St. George area, a bad idea whether near Las Vegas or in
Utah.
The pair's Washington County Growth & Conservation Act of 2008
would designate 264,000 acres of new wilderness, much of it in already
protected Zion National Park, as well as designating 166 miles of wild
and scenic rivers.
In exchange, the BLM could sell 9,052 acres of public lands in
Washington County with 5 percent of the proceeds going to schools, 10
percent to the county and 85 percent for conservation.
While slightly improved from an earlier version and gaining support
from some conservation organizations, the bill is still akin to trying
to make a pig look better by dressing it up. The proposal has two major
problems.
First, it continues the bad precedent of selling off public lands.
One of the great things about Utah, whether you are a backpacker, dirt
bike rider, mountain biker or camper, is the abundance of public lands
open to such activities.
Once politicians, hungry to increase tax bases by aiding developers
looking to build in these areas, start selling off these lands, they
are gone to public use forever. Since the land is often close to urban
areas losing open space, it's all the more valuable.
And, in times of huge budget deficits such as the one we're facing due
to President Bush's and Congress' disastrous policies, there will be
continued temptation to sell these lands for a quick fix without regard
to the long-term consequences to public access and the environment.
The second concern is growth. Washington County and St. George are
among the fastest-growing places in the country. Utah taxpayers are
being asked to pay for a massive and expensive pipeline project to
bring water from Lake Powell.
That's part of a bigger Western problem where places such as Phoenix,
Las Vegas, St. George and Southern California are relying on the
increasingly stressed Colorado River and underground aquifers for
water. No one knows when there will no longer be enough water to
sustain this desert development, but why make it easier for these
places to grow?
While these arguments will likely fall on deaf ears of Utah
politicians, the only hope is that national environmental groups will
press Congress to reject this and other attempts to sell public lands
so they can remain open to myriad recreational activities.
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- Privatization 
