[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 125 (Thursday, September 18, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H7533]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY: UTAH'S SCHOOLS SHOULD NOT CONTINUE TO PAY FOR 
                     CREATION OF NATIONAL MONUMENT

  (Mr. CANNON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, today is the 1-year anniversary of President 
Clinton's declaration of the massive Utah monument in my district. 
Within the monument are 175,000 acres of school trust lands. They 
contain vast deposits of coal, large quantities of oil, gas, and hard 
rock minerals. The total value is in the billions of dollars.
  A year ago, the President stood in Arizona and promised that creating 
this national monument should not and will not come at the expense of 
Utah's children and vowed to create a working group, including Utah's 
congressional delegation, to find equivalent lands for exchange. A year 
later, no working group exists, no member of the Utah delegation has 
been contacted, and the Utah School Trust has been unable to open 
negotiations.
  Mr. President, I ask for your help. With 48 of my colleagues, I am 
sending you today a letter asking for the creation of the promised 
working group. The burden of your decision to create the monument 
should not, and it must not, fall on Utah's schoolchildren.

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