SWEETWATER COUNTY – Time is running short for Sweetwater County’s governing bodies and residents to submit comments on the Bureau of Land Management’s proposed Resource Management Plan (RMP) for lands managed by the Rock Springs Field Office.

Initially, the deadline was set for Nov. 16 but after complaints from residents, local governing bodies, and state officials were aired, the deadline was extended to Jan. 17, 2024.

Sweetwater County Land Use Director Eric Bringham said his main focus has involved areas of critical and environmental concern, which dictates other aspects of the bureau’s management proposal and the potential shutting out of mineral development. He said visual resource management is also important to address because those considerations can also shut down industrial development. Additionally, there are issues Bingham said gives the county legal standing should its opposition lead to a lawsuit.

“There are … requirements that require them to meet with cooperatives,” he said. “We had a preferred alternative and that was Alternative D.”

Alternative D is seen as a compromise between development and conservation amongst many local representatives. Alternative B focuses on conservation of federal lands more than other possible uses. Alternative B is the bureau’s preferred management plan.

Bingham said county representatives have weekly meetings with a contracted attorney the commissioners hired to help them navigate the commenting process. Bingham said a specific format needs to be followed when drafting comments for the federal agency to have standing and open the possibility of protesting the bureau’s decision. The agency itself has publicly available guidelines to help people write what are considered substantive comments, which are used to determine how the agency will act. As far as the county is concerned, Bingham said the goal is to have standing for protest.

“That’s what we’re setting up for,” he said.

He said comments about potential code violations in the RMP are important to cite in the comments, as well as potential harms that could come about from the RMP’s implementation. Bingham said socio-economic harm can be used as an example in those comments. Bingham said he spoke with Sweetwater County Assessor Dave Divis about a 74% reduction in ad valorem taxes proposed under the bureau’s proposed management alternative. Using last year’s amount of $12,204,000, Bingham said the reduction would mean massive declines in revenue, especially for the school districts. The districts’ share of last year’s taxes amount to $8.5 million according to Bingham and would be reduced to $2.9 million under the management alternative. For the county, $2.8 million in ad valorem taxes would be reduced to $736,000.

“When you reduce that down, that’s a huge impact,” he said.

Bingham said he will approach the commissioners with an update during the next two commissioner meetings, with the possibility of a special meeting focused on the RMP taking place as well. Other groups, such as the Wyoming County Commissioners Association are working on comments as well. Bingham said comments from the association are expected to be sent to the county commissioners next week and will attach them to the county’s comments.