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Show Utah should involve in clean air designations, according to Sen. Gam The State of Utah should have "significant and thorough involvement" involve-ment" in all phases of any study leading to the possible upgrading of air quality protection in Grand Gulch and Dark Canyon Primitive Areas, U. S. Senator Jake Gam (R-UT) said Thursday. The Utah Republican expressed his views in a letter to Paul L. Howard, Ulah State Director of the Bureau of Land Management. Manage-ment. The BLM was to hold public meetings in Salt Lake City and Monti-cello Monti-cello Thursday and Friday to inform the public of the decision to review the two primitive areas in southeastern south-eastern Utah and to describe the procedures that will be used. Under the Clean Air Acts of 1977, federal land managers are required to study all national monuments, monu-ments, national preserves, pre-serves, and primitive areas under their jurisdiction jurisdic-tion for possible redesig-nation redesig-nation as Class I areas, which require a higher level of air quality. The two Utah areas are currently cur-rently classified Class II, which allows more air quality degradation. The studies, with sup-port-'ng analysis, are to be re; orted to Congress and the afd-ated states by AiuruHt-. Gam noted that Howard has indicated that the studies of Grand Gulch and Dark Canyon will be conducted by Utah BLM personnel, and that there will he "close coordination" coordina-tion" with the state government in developing any recommendations. "The statute (Clean Air Act) clearly contemplates a significant and thorough involvement of the State in the study and recom mendation process," Gam noted. "In my opinion, it will not satisfy the requirement of the law simply to allow the State to comment on studies or reommendation carried out or formulated by BLM or other federal land managers. Gam said the State should be invited to participate with the review re-view team "in all aspects as-pects of the review," including visits to the sites, access to studies and documents, and staff discussions. "Only in this way can we hope to avoid conflicts later on between the State and Federal land manager," mana-ger," he concluded. In his letter to Howard, Gam pointed out that all Federal land areas not automatically designated Class I by the statute retain their Class II status until redesignated by the State or through explicit Congressional action. The BLM "can study these areas, and can recommend recom-mend to the State or to Congress that they be upgraded up-graded to Class I, but can take no further action on its own..." Gam noted that "it would be a violation of clear legislative intent to afford these areas Class I protection in the expectation expecta-tion that either Congress or the State "might in the future see fit to upgrade them." If the State or Congress decides to upgrade air quality for the primitive areas, "the air quality then prevailing becomes the background against which any significant deterioration de-terioration is to be measured," mea-sured," Garn said. "The statute does not contemplate contem-plate a return to pristine , quality for any prospective Class I designations," he added. Gam told Howard that he hopes "we will see a harmonious resolution to the question." |