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Show FEBRUARY 1,2007 THE GARFIELD COUNTY INSIDER Page 10 BENNETT INTRODUCES LEGISLATION TO HELP FUND UTAH EDUCATION WHILE PROTECTING PUBLIC LANDS Senator Bob Bennett (R-Utah) today introduced legislation that seeks to consolidate state school trust and public lands, resulting in more funding for Utah's school children and increased protection of critical areas along the Colorado River corridor in Uintah and Grand counties. Bennett introduced similar legislation in the 109th Congress, but time constraints at the end of the session prohibited passage of the bill. Senator Orrin Hatch (RUtah) cosponsored the measure last year and has signed on again this year. S. 390 - The Utah Reireational Land Exchange Act of 2007 - will be referred to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for further consideration. Below is the text of Bennett's statement offered today in the Senate: He stated he was pleased to be able to reintroduce the Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2007, together with Senator Hatch. This legislation would ensure the protection of critical lands along the Colorado River corridor in southeastern Utah and will help provide important funding for Utah's school children. Utah treasures children's education is very important, and a key component of our education system is the 3.5 million acres of school trust lands scattered throughout the state. Upon Utah's admission to the Union in 1896, these lands were dedicated to support public education. Revenue from the trust lands, whether from grazing, forestry, surface leasing, or mineral development, is placed in the State School Fund. This fund is a permanent, income-producing endowment created by Congress to fund Utah's public education. Unfortunately, the majority of these lands are surrounded by public lands, making responsible management very difficult. It is critical to both the state of Utah and the Bureau of Land Management that we consolidate their respective lands to ensure that both public agencies are permitted to fulfill their mandates. The legislation introduced is yet another chapter Utah's long history of consolidating these state lands for the financial well-being ofthe education system. These efforts allow the federal land management agencies to consolidate public lands in environmentally-sensitive areas that can then be reasonably, managed. We believe this exchange as a win-win Solution for fhe'slafe of Utah and its school children, as well as the Department of the Interior, the caretaker of our public lands. In 1998, Congress passed the first major Utah school trust land exchange which consolidated hundreds of thousands of acres. Again in 2000, Congress enacted an exchange consolidating another 100,000 acres. Senator Bennett played a large role in those efforts, and this bill is another step in the long journey toward fulfilling the promise Congress made to Utah's school children in 1896. Utah's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration manages some of the most spectacular lands in America, located along the Colorado River in southeastern Utah. This legislation will ensure that places like Westwater Canyon of the Colorado River, the world famous Kokopelli and Slickrock biking trails, some ofthe largest natural rock arches in the United States, wilderness study areas, and viewsheds for Arches National Park will be traded into federal ownership and for the benefit of future generations. At the same time, the school children of Utah will receive mineral and development lands that are not environmentally-sensitive, and where responsible development makes sense. This will be an equal value exchange, with approximately 40,000 acres exchanged on both sides, giving taxpayers and the school children of Utah a fair deal. Moreover, the legislation establishes a common-sense valuation process for resources that are often either overlooked or overvalued because of their highly-speculative nature. This legislation represents a truly collaborative process that has included local governments, the state, the recreation and environmental communities, and other interested parties. Senators Bennett & Hatch have also worked closely with the Department of the Interior on proper valuation in the appraisal of the lands. In a hearing held before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on May 24,2006, the Department of the Interior expressed their support for the bill and said that this land exchange will resolve management issues, improve www-snapshotmedia.com public access, and facilitate greater resource protection. 676-2621 Letter to the Editor, I am responding to a recent letter to the editor authored by Mr. Norman McKee of Panguitch. This piece regarding Trust Land bonuses and other issues is seriously misleading. When the Trust Lands Administration was created in 1994, the legislation clearly organized an agency that was to be operated as a business for the financial support of Utah's public schools and the 11 other trust beneficiaries. This was done to change the miserable results of the prior 98 years of trust land management; results which Mr. McKee remembers so fondly. It should be noted that the Trust Lands Administration gets NO tax money for its daily operations. All salaries come from running the business. Included in teh 1994 legislation was the ability of the Board of Trustees to utilize bonuses to provide incentives to get good results. The change in management worked. Revenues in FY 1994 (the final year of the predecessor agency's managemnet) were about $17 million dollars. Revenues for fiscal year 2006 were $162 million - an increase of almost 10 times! Bonuses paid in FY 2006 were $338,519, a puny 0.002 percent of revenues. Mr. McKee also asserts that "No state or federal agancy in the West even came close[to paying that level of bonuses] in comparison." I don't know what other agencies offer in bonuses. I don't believe that McKee knows either. What I do know is that Trust Land employees are generally paid less that their counterparts in the private sector, and these small bonuses keep most of them interested in staying with us. Additionally, the bonuses were well within state compensation guidelines. Any other state agency could pay equivalent, or even greater bonuses than the average bonus paid by the Trust Lands Administration. It is interesting that in his State of the State address on January 16, 2007, Governor Huntsman proposed a $25,000,000 bonus for Utah's school teachers. I believe that Governor Huntsman (with his experience in the real world) appreciates the value of bonuses more than Mr. McKee. McKee states that bonuses are tied to the financial performance of selling state lands. First of all, the lands are not "state" lands; they are t4trust" lands. Second, land sales account for a minority of trust land revenues, and no employee receives a commission or bonus for any specific land sale. In fact, the largest portion of trust revenues comes from royalties on the production of oil and gas. McKee asserts that taxpayers are asked to pay for new management programs such as fire suppression, roads, and wildlife depredation. Nothing could be further from the truth. These programs operate exactly as they always have. McKee claims that public lands are often blocked from access (presumably from Trust Land activities or policies). NO public access routes have been blocked by the Trust Lands Administration. In fact, the Trust Lands Administration has worked tirelessly with county officials to ensure that access is protected whenever trust lands are offered for sale. . McKee wants us to exchange trust lands for federal lands that are near cities. We have, in fact, accomplished a couple of such exchanges - with great difficulty. Other efforts with the federal government have failed. Nevertheless, we continually pursue this option. This sounds like and idea stolen from our own playbook. But it is not a panacea. Land exchanges are extremely difficult to complete. Utah is the most successful land exchange; and proponent of all the western states. Even so, it takes years to complete an exchange, and even Utah often is unsuccessful in its exchange attempts. Finally, Mr. McKee claims that the bonus program gives no incentive for our employees to fo the extra effort and that the taxpayers and school kids deserve better, it should be evident that the bonus program has indeed motivated Trust Lands' employees to "go the extra effort." How could taxpayers and and schoolchildren do better than to have 100,000,000 million dollars added to the Permanent State School Fund each year at NO cost to taxpayers? Maybe McKee would prefer to return to the pre-1994 "good *ol days" with which he is more familiar, but Fve been there are will resist going backward. Sincerely, Kevin S. Carter, SITLA Director |