Iron County Commission denounces BLM actions

The Iron County Commission passed a resolution Monday morning condemning the recent actions of the Bureau of Land Management in San Juan County. The resolution denounces the decision by the BLM and the U.S. Attorney’s office to criminally charge five individuals for their involvement in a protest in San Juan County. Those charged included San Juan Commissioner Phil Lyman, who the Iron County Commission maintains was acting on behalf of his oath of office and the residents of San Juan County. The charges came about after Lyman and several others took part in an ATV ride on a road referred to as Recapture Canyon Road in protest to the closure of the road in 2007 by the BLM. It was closed under temporary pretenses, said Iron County Commissioner Dave Miller. “They expected it to be closed for about 18 months, and after making multiple requests for it to be reopened the commissioners and others felt they needed to do a demonstration,” Miller said. The county maintains the road is used for pipeline maintenance and is a right of way for the water conservancy district. Permission to conduct the protest ride was granted by the district. According to the resolution, BLM documents state that the federal government does not claim the road yet they still has the right to close it. Federal authorities claim the protest by the commission and others constitutes political resistance to the BLM and, in turn, criminal conspiracy. The Iron County Commission, however, argues that is not the case and demands that the BLM “drop all charges against the four protestors and elected official Phil Lyman.” The resolution also likens a recent BLM order for the county to rescind a resolution asserting its claim to the road to that of a “king dictating to the peasants.”