Utah eyes airport expansion, roads in proposed public land sale

Kyle Dunphey

(Utah news Dispatch) Utah officials say they want to expand an airport, widen roads, and build new reservoirs and other water infrastructure on the federal land that Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy is proposing to sell to local governments in Washington and Beaver counties.

Maloy says the proposed disposal of nearly 11,500 acres of Bureau of Land Management land will help the region cope with rapid population growth while generating revenue for the federal government — environmental advocates worry that the proposal has too few guidelines, and is a slippery slope that will ultimately anger voters.

Maloy, along with Nevada GOP Rep. Mark Amodei, added the proposal as an amendment to the House budget reconciliation package, which ultimately passed during a late-night House Natural Resources Committee meeting on May 6.

“Not all federal lands have the same value. Some should not be available for disposal. We all agree on that,” Maloy said during the committee meeting, telling lawmakers that the land disposal will help St. George and Washington County — one of the fastest growing areas in the entire U.S. — meet the water, housing and transportation needs for its ballooning population.

“The net impact will be to reduce the federal debt and deficit through fair market value sales of targeted lands needed by local governments for infrastructure. And the impact will be to a third of a percentage of the federal land in the state,” Maloy said.

That reasoning doesn’t fly with some of the state’s public land and environmental advocates, like Steve Bloch with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

“Shame on Celeste Maloy for trying this,” said Bloch, legal director for the alliance. “When you think about how Congress works, at least in concept, this eleventh hour effort by Reps. Maloy and Amadei really stands in stark contrast. They introduce this in the middle of the night at the end of a long day of a budget reconciliation hearing for a reason — the sale of federal public lands is wildly unpopular.”