Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes said, "the fact that the federal government controls nearly 70% of Utah land seriously limits [Utah’s] state sovereignty." Reyes shared his statement in a press release on August 20.
"The fact that the federal government controls nearly 70% of Utah land seriously limits our state sovereignty, or our ability to self-govern, especially compared to eastern states where federal control may be only 1-3%," Reyes said," said D. Reyes. "From a legal standpoint, nothing in the text of the Constitution authorizes the U.S. government to simply retain huge swathes of unappropriated land within a state forever. To the contrary, the framers of the Constitution carefully limited the federal government power to hold land within the states. Because of this, we've filed a historic lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether the federal government can simply hold appropriated lands within a state indefinitely."
According to a press release on August 20, 2024, the state of Utah has filed a landmark lawsuit challenging the federal control over most Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. The lawsuit aims to "address whether the federal government can simply hold appropriated lands within a state indefinitely." Unappropriated lands are defined as "those that the federal government simply holds without a congressionally defined purpose." The unappropriated land in this lawsuit covers 18.5 million acres in Utah. The press release noted, "The lawsuit will not impact the millions of ‘appropriated’ acres already designated as national parks, national monuments, wilderness areas, national forests, Tribal lands, or military property."
According to the press release, BLM had published a rule that undermines the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), which "hinders access to public lands for energy and critical mineral development, grazing, forest management, and recreation." More than 60% of Utah land is federally managed; thus, this rule can have an "outsized impact" on the state. The new BLM rule also undermines a Tenth Circuit decision that determined allowing conservation as a use of a federal grazing permit is unconstitutional and not allowed under the Taylor Grazing Act or FLPMA.
The purpose of FLPMA (1976) was to give BLM a mission "guided by multiple use and sustained yield mandate," which includes "livestock grazing, energy and mineral development, timber production, outdoor recreation, habitat for wildlife and watershed protection," according to the press release. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark) said: "Access and the multiple uses of BLM land are an integral part of life in western states and is the backbone of rural economies across the country," noting how harmful he believes the recent rule challenging FLPMA could be.
Sean Reyes is Utah’s 21st Attorney General and was appointed by Governor Gary Herbert in 2013. He was selected in 2015 by the Republican National Committee as one of its four national rising stars. Reyes’ prior education includes graduating summa cum laude from Brigham Young University in 1994 and earning a law degree with honors from the University of California Berkeley in 1997. As a lawyer, he practiced law for 14 years at Parsons Behle & Latimer and became one of the first minority lawyers to make partner at a major Utah firm.
