The Committee appointed by the County Council to prepare a Public Land Use Plan for Congressman Bishop is in hiding. The Bishop Land Use Plan is a proposal to Congress that will allocate your public lands to mining, oil or gas production, wilderness, and other recreations. The Bishop Public Lands Plan has the potential to change public lands usage in Moab from recreation for the tourist industry to an industrialized zone for potash mining and oil and gas development. Tourists do not come to industrialized zones for vacations.
The Committee’s Chair for developing this plan has declared an affiliation with the potash industry. Potash development could change much of the lands east of Moab from tourist related usage to an industrial zone for the potash industry.
The Committee apparently does not want any public participation in preparing the alternative proposed for the Bishop Land Use Plan. The Committee has gone into hiding to prevent interference by the public. The county administration has no idea where the committee is meeting, the time the committee meets, or even if they are meeting. The committee will allow the public to comment on the alternatives only after they are completed.
The Grand County Master Plan had significant public participation during the plans preparation. The preparation of the Bishop Land Use Plan by a committee hiding from the public is wrong. Call the County Council and ask for a public process in preparing the plan and ask that the committee be removed from hiding, and that the meetings are open to the public. This land supports thousands of jobs in Moab, and your future should not be determined by a committee who feels they are above the opinions of Moab residents.
Bill Love
Moab
