Are you sitting down? You better be: A Utah lawmaker is calling for the protection by the federal government of 1.5 million acres near Canyonlands National Park. Yes, the state that reignited the Sagebrush Rebellion and consistently has to be threatened with economic blackmail by the outdoor industry to keep from further trashing its lands actually has an elected representative that doesn’t want to develop every single acre. Okay, he’s a Democratic state senator (a Dem in Utah — who knew?), but Jim Dabakis has proposed a resolution that would set aside the lands in exchange for opening land in eastern Utah to develop. You knew there’d be a quid pro quo, didn’t you? “The recreation people aren’t going to be happy, the drill-baby-drill crowd isn’t going to be happy,” he said. “But it will be a giant victory with some individual losses.” The odds of the resolution getting out of commitment? Slim and none. But still. Via NY Times.

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