State senators voted almost unanimously Monday to approve a resolution encouraging the federal government not to designate new national monuments in Utah.
As the Department of the Interior discusses whether Southern Utah’s San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa should be protected by federal law, state Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, a Vernal Republican who represents Park City, said he wishes the federal government would not designate any other monuments in the state.
Van Tassell is sponsoring Senate Concurrent Resolution 11, which “urges the [president] of the United States and the United States Congress to refrain from designating new national monuments in the San Rafael Swell area, the Cedar Mesa area, and any other area in Utah.”
“The resolution talks about curbing the powers of the Antiquities Act,” Van Tassell said in an interview Monday on Capitol Hill.
Energy projects in Utah were hampered when the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was designated in Southern Utah, Van Tassell said.
“With the Antiquities Act, with a stroke of the pen, the president can just do it,” Van Tassell said.
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is scheduled to visit Utah this spring.
“We’re going to hand the resolution to him,” Van Tassell said. “We’re opposed to having a national monument dictated to us without having any input.”
Meanwhile, on Monday the state House of Representatives endorsed a similar resolution. Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, is sponsoring House Concurrent Resolution 17.
Rep. Mel Brown, a Coalville Republican who represents the Park City area, supported HCR 17. Rep. Christine Johnson, a Salt Lake City Democrat representing parts of the Snyderville Basin, was among 11 House members who opposed the measure.
The Legislature is poised to approve both resolutions.