Utah Is Suing the Federal Government to Reclaim Your Public Land

Utah is trying to take 18.5 million acres of federal land in the state to the Supreme Court .

Lawsuit argues that all Bureau of Land Management acres within the state's borders should be transferred to Utah ’s control.

Utah 's claim: BLM land is “unappropriated” and doesn’t benefit the state.

Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes says this “prevents the state making money off of those acres”.

Utah is using that “unappropriated” label to imply that BLM land isn’t being actively managed or used.

The Department of the Interior estimates that, in financial year 2021 , lands managed by BLM nationwide produced $201 billion in economic output, supporting 783,000 jobs.

Utah ’s lawsuit asks the U.S. Supreme Court to address whether the federal government can simply hold unappropriated lands within a state indefinitely.

Attorney General’s office filed the suit on Tuesday , August 20 .

Stand for Our Land: Utah would immediately begin losing hundreds of millions of dollars annually .

Utah would be legally bound to continue to achieve profits from that land, which may force the sale of portions of it to cover those costs.