Clinton Creates Monument in Utah

* A standing ovation is in order for President Clinton, who established the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument on nearly 2 million acres of public lands in Utah on Sept. 18. This bold environmental initiative protects one of the most majestic and scenic landscapes in the nation.

By using the 1906 Antiquities Act, Clinton was able to stop the Utah congressional delegation’s all-out assault against at least 1.7 million acres of Utah’s treasured environment. This delegation was proposing legislation that would have allowed development in this area, including a massive coal mine and transportation complex.

This historic move shows that Clinton truly cares about the conservation and preservation of our environment.

HANS HEMANN, Sierra Club

Regional Representative

Los Angeles

* The dazzling speed with which President Clinton personally swept 1.7 million acres of Utah land into the national monument system stands in vivid contrast to the seemingly endless new reviews he insists must be applied to California’s Ward Valley low-level radioactive waste disposal site.

Despite the vocal opposition of many Utah residents, including the governor, no meaningful public review was provided on this huge but hastily crafted decision. For the 1,000-acre Ward Valley land sale, however, 10 years of hearings, public comment and a favorable National Academy of Sciences review are still not enough.

CAROL S. MARCUS PhD, MD

President, American College

of Nuclear Physicians

California Chapter, Los Altos

* Re “Utah Officials Oppose U.S. Plan for Land,” Sept. 18, and Robert Redford’s Sept. 19 commentary:

The notion of destroying my home for the firewood it would yield is ludicrous. So is the plan of Utah’s Gov. Mike Leavitt et al. to open up the Kaiparowits land in Utah to coal mining.

As far as “sending 5,000 men and women to the borders of Iraq,” Gov. Leavitt, to protect our oil interests, we must instead continue to reduce our dependency on nonrenewable sources of energy and strive to develop clean, alternative energy sources. Raping the Utah landscape for the money is definitely a move in the wrong direction.

In the end, tourism will prove to be more profitable over the course of time but it, too, has a measurable impact on the environment. I believe that the national monument status will manage and protect the pristine beauty that could never be rebuilt or restored by anyone but God and a few million years.

LINDA ACKERMAN

Santa Clarita

* If the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument designation by President Clinton is the defining legacy of the Clinton presidency after four years, then I am voting for Bob Dole.

P.S. Great furniture out there, who is their decorator?

MICHELLE M. NIPP

Los Angeles

* Redford’s column regarding the Utah coal mine smacks of hypocrisy. Conservatives (do not read Republicans) want wise use of our resources, not no use, as advocated by liberals. An underground coal mine, with minimal above-ground facilities, in a desolate, non-tourist-visited area, certainly qualifies as wise use.

Would liberals rather the world burn an equal quantity of dirtier coal, rather than the proposed high-quality, low-sulfur Utah coal, thus significantly increasing global sulfur dioxide emissions? Because coal will be burned regardless. Would liberals want to deny American union workers 40 years of high-paying mining, road-building, stevedore, coal terminal, railroad and truck-driving jobs? Do they want to deny the U.S. a partial means of paying off its internal debt as well as reducing its trade deficit?

Redford’s comments are political, if not xenophobic, when identifying the prospective mining company as Dutch, but aren’t similar concerns aimed at the American film industry’s dominance worldwide? Though liberals may write off Utah as unwinnable, workers and unions in other states should see the writing on the wall and rally to common sense.

RANDY DUTTON

Irvine

* Regarding Clinton’s politically motivated land grab of southern Utah: Could this be payback time for the fact that he came in third in that state during the 1992 elections?

BARRY COOK

Newhall