Utah’s case against U.S. government to reclaim federal land is on shaky ground

Analysis casts doubt on case against feds

salt lake city» A new legal analysis from a group of Western attorneys general casts doubt on many of the arguments Utah has put forward in its push to gain control of millions of acres of federal land.

The report, based on two years of work, doesn’t address every argument Utah has floated, but it points out decisions by the Supreme Court and other federal courts that could put Utah on shaky ground if it sues the U.S. government for control. The analysis was drafted by lawyers from seven Republican attorneys general, three Democrats and one independent.

It was obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

The Conference of Western Attorneys General, comprised of the top law officers in 15 Western states and three U.S. territories, voted 11-1 to approve the report at their annual meeting in Idaho this past summer.

Critics say it’s one more sign that a lawsuit, which could cost up to $14 million, has little chance of succeeding.

The findings align with legal experts but contrast with the opinion of a team of outside lawyers hired by Utah who concluded last year that the state has some legitimate arguments to make and recommended that Utah sue. Utah lawmakers have so far agreed to pay the team up to $2 million for their work.

Politicians can try to make a case before the public and Congress that their state has been treated unfairly, but the attorneys general group seems to be signaling that a court battle isn’t the way to go, said John Leshy, a professor at University of California Hastings College of Law who was the Interior Department’s top lawyer during the Clinton administration.

The group is “basically saying this is a loser,” Leshy said. “I think you read this thing if you’re a practicing lawyer and go, ‘God, do they have a case?’ ”

Messages left with defenders of Utah’s lands push were not returned Friday.

Supporters of the largely Republican lands push say Western states where the federal government owns large portions of land have less power and earning potential from their land compared with states in the East. They also argue the federal government is a poor manager, citing overgrown forests ripe for catastrophic wildfires as an example. Officials in many Western states are pushing for greater control but Utah has gone further than any other state, passing a law demanding more than 30 million acres and hiring a team of lawyers to help prepare a case.

Utah’s GOP-controlled Legislature is in favor of a lawsuit, but the decision rests with Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes.

Dan Burton, a spokesman for Reyes, said Friday that the office is still reviewing the matter and did not have a comment on the report and what it might mean for Utah.

Reyes is a member of the Conference of Western Attorneys General, but Burton said Friday night that while Reyes and another lawyer from his office were at the group’s meeting in Idaho, neither of them were present for the vote on the report. Burton said they were at other meeting.

Chris Coppin, the attorneys general group’s legal director, declined to say which state voted against the report.

The lawyers that worked on the report came from attorneys general offices in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.