Taking the land, not the financial responsibility

National | Local officials tell Washington to take it all or leave it alone | Roy Maynard

Louise Liston admits she entered politics as a more relaxing way to continue adding to her state retirement package. After teaching for 20 years, a spot on the Garfield County Commission seemed pretty tame. But now she finds herself leading something of a civil war, as Utah residents fight the federal government's heavy-handed decision to transform 1.7 million acres of federal land into a national monument--placing the land off limits to economic opportunity and forcing the locals to clean up after the tourists. Mrs. Liston has helped organize other local officials, and she's helped strategize responses to the federal government's land grab.

This range war pits ranchers and local governments against the environmental lobby and its allies in the administration. It's not simply commercial interests against the birds and the trees. Some commercial interests did just fine. The White House-friendly Lippo Group of Indonesia could reap millions of dollars because the clean-burning coal that would have been mined in Utah is now off the market; Americans will now have to buy clean coal elsewhere.