BY STEPHEN BLOCH
The governor "doth protest too much, methinks." William Shakespeare's famous line from Hamlet sprang to mind after reading Gov. Gary Herbert's op-ed in last Sunday's Tribune, "Utah loves its public lands," which went to great lengths to proclaim Utah elected officials' passion for doing right by the land.
In fact, it is quite the opposite. Utah is ground zero for the some of the most egregious acts by elected officials seeking to disenfranchise hundreds of millions of Americans from their federal public lands. Here are just a few examples of initiatives that have unfolded under Herbert's watch.
From 2011-2012, Utah filed 27 lawsuits claiming title to more than 12,000 alleged rights-of-way, totaling more than 35,000 miles, that crisscross national parks, national monuments, national wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas. Most of these alleged 'RS 2477 highways' are little more than two-tracks or cattle trails that vanish into the desert. Why would the state spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on this fool's errand? Utah politicians have been explicit about their goal: this suite of litigation seeks to give Utah the power to riddle our wildest places with paved roads, thus disqualifying them from future wilderness designation. of the sun rising over the distant Echo Cliffs...