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Show alue-for-value basis witch may inlock 'in lieu' lands policy that will allow Utah and .jther Western states more !i' in selecting "in lieu" lands j federal government has been ;; Gov. Scott M. Matheson as a jieakthrough toward resolving :i issue. has the largest claim to in lieu 2,400 acres but has been ; in its efforts to obtain energy-is energy-is in the Uintah Basin. jew policy was announced :; of last week by Interior .7 Cecil Andrus in Salt Lake s joint press conference with n. (gram will allow the states to ands from the federal govern- I value-f or-value basis, rather - atre-for-acre basis. allow Utah to again lay claim neral rich land it wants in the 3asin. icy would allow each state to rvalue of lands lost when the government established -parks, Indian reservations and liases and trade that acreage !er but more valuable tracts of 'testates joined the union, they 'fflised ownership of four 640-slions 640-slions in each township to 'public school systems. But title pperty was not transferred ''acreage was surveyed. II meantime, the federal withdrew thousands of :t' parks, reservations and 7 bases, and the states were 'Make selections in lieu of the 'Is. 600,000 acres is still owed to H California, Arizona, Idaho, ' 'J. Colorado, South Dakota and ''. :'"lahciaimed title to 156,000 j Ml shale land in the Uintah 11 in a landmark ruling eariler this year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the claim, saying states must trade lost lands for property of equal value. "Under this program, states may ' choose fewer acres and higher values," Andrus said. "The federal government has been working hard to bring this situation to a rapid conclusion." He predicted the final land transfers will be completed by 1984. He said the new policy "meets the test of the Supreme Court decision to expeditiously ex-peditiously move to the transfer of these final acres" owed state governments. govern-ments. . After the Supreme Court decision, Matheson set out to get the land transfer made through administrative channels. Andrus praised the governor for continuing to push for the transfer. Matheson said Utah "desperately needs" the land now to support the state's burgeoning public school system. Andrus said the Bureau of Land Management and the states will work together to determine the value of the lands actually owed the states. That process could take three years, he said. Then the states could choose equal acreage of similar unappropriated federal lands, or fewer acres of more valuable lands. Andrus said the new policy was worked out with the Western States Land Commissioners Association and BLM personnel in recent months. He said a memorandum of understanding between BLM and the association will be completed soon to implement the policy. Andrus said he has instructed BLM Director Frank Gregg to "treat state land entitlements as a debt owed to the states by the federal government and to treat the satisfaction of that debt as a positive and high priority bureau objective." |