Clinton Plans to Protect Utah Wilderness Area
9/17/96
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From: C-reuters@clari.net (Reuter / Laurence McQuillan)
Subject: Clinton plans to protect Utah wilderness area
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 23:40:04 PDT
CHICAGO (Reuter) - Promoting his environmental record as a way to
court voters, President Clinton Wednesday planned to protect vast
stretches of redrock canyons and plateaus in Utah from development.
Clinton, who was to fly to Arizona early in the day, was the
use the majestic panorama of the Grand Canyon to announce a decision
already being hailed by environmentalists and denounced by those
opposed to curbs on mining and other development.
``I fully expect the president will say ... that he does intend to
proceed with the national monument designation for this very pristine
and beautiful area,'' said a senior administration official, who was
accompanying Clinton on a four-day campaign swing through the Midwest
and West.
``There are some procedural questions about how to make that
announcement that are still being wrestled with,'' the official
said.
Clinton was expected to protect the land from mining, road-building
and other development in order, as one official said, ``to preserve
this very beautiful wilderness area for future generations of
Americans.''
Clinton's action is based on the same legal authority that President
Theodore Roosevelt used to safeguard the Grand Canyon itself in 1908,
and he planned to stand in roughly the same spot that was used by his
predecessor to make his announcement.
The plan would safeguard 1.7-1.8 million acres, including Grand
Staircase adjacent to Bryce Canyon National Park, Kaiparowits Plateau
adjacent to Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, and Esclante basin
adjacent to Capital Reef National Park, according to the Southern
Utah Wilderness Alliance, which supports the move.
Utah's congressional delegation opposes the idea, saying it would
lock up resources including a tract of high-quality coal that Andalex
Resources Corp. -- a Dutch-owned company -- wants to mine.
Utah Gov. Michael Leavitt, a Republican, met in Washington Tuesday
with White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta to try and stop or
modify the move, as did Rep. William Orton, the only Democrat in the
Utah delegation.
Utah's congressmen, all of whom oppose the proposal, have said they
felt the White House should hold hearings and involve the public
before determining the use of an area larger than Grand Canyon
National Park.
They also complained the proposal would kill the Andalex plan to
develop a huge subsurface mine containing major untapped reserves of
high-quality coal.
Clinton has been promoting his record on the environment -- which
environmentalists call mixed, but better than the efforts pushed by
the Republican-controlled Congress during the past two years.
In one example, the federal government Tuesday reached a landmark
deal with 15 timber companies that averts the sale of old-growth
forests in the Pacific Northwest and ensures that alternative timber
sales must meet federal environmental laws.
Public opinion polls have found broad support for protecting the
environment, with most voters saying they feel Clinton would be more
likely to back programs that do that then Republican rival Bob Dole.
In August, Clinton interrupted a vacation in Wyoming to visit
Yellowstone National Park and announce an agreement stopping mining
operations at New World Mine, located on the fringe of the park.
That announcement, coupled with Clinton's move to protect lands in
southern Utah, has strengthened the president's standing in much of
the West -- a region traditionally considered a Republican
stronghold.
Clinton, who campaigned on Tuesday in Michigan and Illinois, also
planned to visit Oregon, Washington and South Dakota before returning
to Washington late Friday.