U.S. Senators Mike Lee and Mitt Romney, and Representatives Chris Stweart, John Curtis, Burgess Owens and Blake Moore wrote a letter on Thursday to Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Interior, requesting an explanation regarding Utah receiving lower funding than usual for public lands projects. According to the letter, Utah was allocated a disproportionately low amount of funding compared to its proportion of federal lands and its contribution to the federal government.
The letter says the Department of Interior made an investment of $1.6 billion in deferred maintenance funding for projects nationwide. Frustration was expressed after Utah received just $7.3 million with “67 percent federal land ownership.”
The letter says, “Utah’s contributions to the federal government and outdoor recreation must more seriously be considered in future deferred maintenance funding allocations.”
