[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 58 (Wednesday, May 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2261-H2262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     H.R. 1500 HURTS UTAH EDUCATION

  (Mr. CANNON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today regarding H.R. 1500, a bill 
introduced last week by the gentleman from

[[Page H2262]]

New York, to designate 5.7 million acres in Utah, almost all of it in 
my district, as wilderness.
  Within the 5.7 million acres in H.R. 1500 are more than half a 
million acres of school trust lands, and those are lands that are given 
to Utah in statehood to support our schools.
  By surrounding these school trust lands with wilderness, H.R. 1500 
would dramatically hurt their value, hurting Utah schools. The fact is, 
there is not one word in H.R. 1500, not one, that would protect the 
value of Utah's school trust lands either by trading the lands out or 
by providing cash value. That is why the Utah State School Board, Utah 
PTA, the Utah school superintendents and Utah Education Association all 
oppose H.R. 1500 as written.
  The sponsor says he does not want to hurt Utah's school children, but 
that is exactly what H.R. 1500 does.

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