H.C.R. 1 Enrolled

ESCALANTE NATIONAL MONUMENT RESOLUTION
1997 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Sponsor: Thomas Hatch
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF THE LEGISLATURE AND THE GOVERNOR
EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE SCHOOL AND INSTITUTIONAL TRUST
LANDS ADMINISTRATION AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES IN THEIR EFFORTS
TO CARRY OUT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT ASSETS IN THEIR
CHARGE FOR UTAH'S SCHOOL CHILDREN; ENCOURAGING THE SCHOOL AND
INSTITUTIONAL TRUST LANDS ADMINISTRATION TO EXAMINE ALL CAUSES
OF ACTION CONCERNING LITIGATION DESIGNED TO RECTIFY THE
APPARENT BREACH OF THE BILATERAL CONTRACT WITH THE STATE
CAUSED BY THE CREATION OF THE MONUMENT; AND SUPPORTING
REQUIRED LITIGATIVE ACTIONS OF THE SCHOOL AND INSTITUTIONAL
TRUST LANDS ADMINISTRATION DESIGNED TO PROTECT THE INTERESTS OF
UTAH'S SCHOOL CHILDREN.
Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
WHEREAS on September 18, 1996, President Clinton declared 1.8965 million acres in
southern Utah as the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument;
WHEREAS the President's action abused the purpose of the 90-year-old Antiquities Act,
which allows him to act without congressional approval, by significantly over-reaching in the
number of acres designated;
WHEREAS the President ignored repeated requests to work through legislative processes
already in place under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Federal Land Policy
and Management Act (FLPMA) to determine areas appropriate for designation as national
monuments and wilderness areas;
WHEREAS the President ignored repeated requests from Utah's elected leaders to
negotiate a compromise;
WHEREAS the President failed to adequately consider the social implications of national

monument designation, including the fact that 176,000 surface acres of Utah's school trust lands lie
within the designated areas;
WHEREAS this land was given to the state as part of a bilateral compact with the United
States of America (Enabling Act and Article X, Utah Constitution);
WHEREAS this land grant was "in the nature of a contract, with bargained for consideration
exchanged between two governments" (Utah v. Andrus, 486 F. Supp. 995, 1979);
WHEREAS the land is to be managed for the exclusive benefit of the "common schools"
(Utah Enabling Act);
WHEREAS this contract has been interpreted by the United States Supreme Court as
imposing a trust obligation on the state, including attendant fiduciary duties and the duty of
undivided loyalty to the trust beneficiaries (Lassen v. Arizona, 385 U.S. 458);
WHEREAS in 1994 the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, legislation reaffirming
the purpose of the trust, reaffirming the use of standard trust principles, and providing that the
beneficiaries of the trust do not include "other governmental institutions or agencies, the public at
large, or the general welfare of the state" (Section 53C-1-102);
WHEREAS the 1994 legislation further provided that "the trustee must be concerned with
both income for the current beneficiaries and the preservation of trust assets for future beneficiaries",
thereby requiring a "balancing of short and long term interests";
WHEREAS the immediate effect of the designation is the creation of about 176,000 surface
acres and 200,700 mineral acres of school trust land within a federal reservation keyed to
preservation, called "inholdings";
WHEREAS there is concern that the monument is larger than that necessary for the proper
care and management of the objects to be protected by the monument, contrary to the requirements
of the Antiquities Act, thereby including an excessive amount of school trust lands, and including
trust land resources that should not be within the monument;
WHEREAS similar inholdings were created in the creation of national parks, forests, and
Indian reservations, amounting to about 200,000 acres of trust lands;
WHEREAS both the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and the federal

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government desire to exchange the trust lands within these preservation areas for federal lands or
other assets elsewhere in Utah, and are working toward that end;
WHEREAS no exchanges of land have been consummated with the federal government for
over a decade;
WHEREAS to succeed, an exchange process must determine: (1) the value of the lands to
be exchanged and what standards are to be used to determine value; (2) what federal assets are
available for the exchange; and (3) how the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration is
to keep the federal government at the negotiation table;
WHEREAS the President, in his remarks establishing the monument, stated that "reasonable
differences in valuation" of the school trust lands should be resolved in favor of the school trust;
WHEREAS a major difficulty in valuation under the process set out in Public Law 103-93
is the lack of information about mineral resources, which is directly tied to restrictive federal
management;
WHEREAS in recent discussions in the United States Congress concerning wilderness
designation in Utah, the Interior Department unilaterally created the impression of a vast disparity
in value determinations for the school trust lands involved by looking only at current revenue which,
because the lands have been in wilderness study areas since the early 1980's, is necessarily low;
WHEREAS for all federal minerals, the state of Utah is already entitled to half of the revenue
from leasing and production, therefore this half of the revenue is not available to compensate the
trust for assets in the monument;
WHEREAS portions of the monument contain areas of spectacular scenery, while other
portions are common and typical of many other areas in the West;
WHEREAS tourism is a high growth industry, especially in southern Utah, thereby providing
opportunity for income from the trust lands within and adjacent to the monument;
WHEREAS in his remarks, the President directed the Secretary of the Interior to start a
three-year planning process for the management directives for the monument;
WHEREAS the director of the Bureau of Land Management in Utah has stated that anything
that could be done on school trust lands on the day before the monument was established can be

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done on the day after establishment; and
WHEREAS this planning process should not be interpreted as a moratorium on all activities
in the monument because planning is an adaptive process:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
Governor concurring therein, support the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and
the board of trustees in their efforts to carry out their responsibility to protect the assets in their
charge for the school children of Utah.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor encourage the board
of trustees to examine all causes of action concerning litigation against the United States designed
to rectify the apparent breach of the bilateral contract with the state caused by the creation of the
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, including a challenge that the size of the monument
is not the smallest size necessary to protect the objects of interest, as required by the Antiquities Act;
an examination of the process by which the President made the determination; and options for
compensation under the takings provision of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor support required
litigative actions by the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration designed to protect the
interests of Utah's school children.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the President and
Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the
United States Secretary of the Interior, the School and Institutional Trust Lands board of trustees,
the School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, and the members of Utah's congressional
delegation.

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