Vastly Improved Washington County Bill Wins Key Vote in Senate 

On Sunday, Congress took the first step towards nearly doubling the amount of designated Wilderness on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Utah.

After nearly five years of hard work by SUWA, a greatly improved version of wilderness legislation for Washington County was included earlier this week in a package of public lands provisions.  The U.S. Senate has now approved the first key vote on that package, the Omnibus Public Land Management Act (S. 22).  Another procedural vote and a vote on final passage, likely to occur next week, are needed before the package moves to the House of Representatives for a vote.  It is expected to then proceed to the desk of President-Elect Obama for his signature.

Today's successful vote marks a momentous step forward for wild lands in Utah.  Countless redrock supporters have toiled for decades to designate wilderness in southern Utah, and SUWA is proud of the many improvements made to this Washington County legislation in recent months.

Please see SUWA's detailed statement on the important new changes to this legislation.

We congratulate Sen. Bennett, Chairman Jeff Bingaman and the the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and congressional supporters of America's redrock wilderness.