Let it die: Give up on ill-advised Washington County bill

Tribune Editorial
Salt Lake Tribune

Article Last Updated:12/06/2006 08:47:25 PM MST

Observing Sen. Bob Bennett's talent for attaching his pet projects to spending bills as they rapidly pass by is rather like watching one's teenage son hot-wire a car.
    It is unquestionably a special talent, but not necessarily one to be proud of.
    Bennett was more than ready to add his misbegotten Washington County Growth and Conservation Act to any of the last-minute appropriations bills that were to be taken up in this week's lame-duck session. But, he said Tuesday, there became no point in doing so when he learned that House leaders would not accept the measure.
    That's good news.
    Better news would be to hear that Bennett and his co-sponsor, Rep. Jim Matheson, will now await the outcome of the Vision Dixie planning process, now just getting started in the St. George environs, before putting up any new proposals.
    The Bennett-Matheson bill would have hot-wired the needed process of making some real and sustainable development plans for the mushrooming population of the St. George-Zion National Park area. It would have put the cart before the horse in so many ways, most obnoxiously by allowing the sale of 24,300 acres of federal land and channeling much of the estimated $1 billion in proceeds back to local projects.
    Once a real planning process has been carried out, we may well find out that selling 24,000 acres - or more - makes sense. But we don't know that now. We particularly don't know which 24,000 acres should be sold, or what benefit the people of the United States should expect in return.
    This was a case of congressional gridlock providing a great public service. Bennett and Matheson should let this bad idea die.