Monumental Follies: Utah Says No to New Jobs

The guvmint-hatin' Utah state legislature has just declared a preemptive strike against creating new jobs and revenue in the state. Today, the state senate passed a resolution opposing federal creation of new monuments. A few weeks ago, a Department of the Interior memo brainstorming 14 possible national monuments, including two in Utah, was leaked to a national park-hating member of Congress, creating a firestorm of manufactured controversy throughout the West. In response, Republican-dominated state legislatures are railing against an entirely chimerical federal land grab. Consider it a Sagebrush Rebellion 2.0.

Just how bad for Utah would those new national monuments be?

The Utah state senate's resolution, following a similar one in the state house of representatives, is not binding on the federal government. The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives the President the power to declare monuments regardless of the opinion of any state legislature. Instead, the resolution is part of a larger Sagebrush Rebellion 2.0, being cynically manufactured by western Republicans.

Consider what impact the national parks and monuments have on Utah.
* In 2008, the last year studied (53 pg pdf), non-local visitors spent $548,251,000 in Utah. The Park Service employed 971 people, and national park-related businesses employed an additional 11,340 people, in Utah.
* The state's official travel site invites the visitor: "Welcome to Utah, paradise for outdoor enthusiasts! From National Parks to ski resorts..." with a page devoted just to Utah, "America's National Parks capital" and another page extolling the virtues of Utah's national monuments.
* These numbers don't do justice to the pride that Utahns take in their land. The state license plate shows Delicate Arch in Arches National Park (formerly Arches National Monument). Utah has some of the most spectacular scenery in the country, and much of it is conserved as national parks and monuments.

One of the two proposed national monuments is the San Rafael Swell (pictured), geologically and geographically similar to Capitol Reef National Park. Capitol Reef's non-local visitors spent $27,842,000 in 2008, and the federal government spent an additional $1,141,000 on payroll. If the San Rafael Swell becomes a national monument, similar numbers should be expected. Currently, it's managed by the Bureau of Land Management, has no visitor services, and is used only by off road vehicles and very intrepid hikers.

After all, the Utah state legislature can easily afford to say no to jobs and revenue, right? The latest draft of the state budget cuts education by $21 million, adds a cigarette tax, and cuts the Utah State Hospital's budget by $500,000.

But what's mere money when Republicans can stand on principles against a socialist federal guvmint land grab?