Legal News

?We Have to Do Something?: More on Utah?s Jab at the Feds

By Ashby Jones

Earlier this week, we wrote about WSJ reporter Jim Carlton’s story on the state of Utah’s recent provocative maneuver. Utah recently passed a law to authorize it to seize public land from the federal government.

In his story, Carlton noted that Utah’s chance of actually getting the land is next to nil. Over at Above the Law, Elie Mystal had this gem of a line:

A state is invoking the Takings Clause against the federal government? This reminds me of the time I came home and my dog told me to get off the couch.

So what, exactly, is Utah thinking? After his story ran, Carlton attempted to answer the question, with a little help from one of the bill’s sponsors, state Sen. Steve Urquhart. According to Carlton, Urquhart suggested Utah could inspire other Western states to rise up against the federal government, which controls the vast majority of public lands in the region.

"Anyone who is willing to help us fight an abusive federal government is welcome to join us," said Urquhart, a Republican.

According to Carlton, Urquhart added that Utah has little choice but to take on the federal government, because hundreds of state-owned land parcels containing oil and gas deposits are now surrounded by U.S. lands which are off limits to the equipment needed to tap into those resources. Since the royalties off those lands are intended for Utah schools, he said the state has less money to spend on public education than most other states. "We have an administration which is hostile to us, so we have to do something," Urquhart said. "Does it make any difference if we lose?"

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 31, 2010 (boomark / email).