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ST. GEORGE -- Another battle is shaping up over the role of the federal government in Utah. This time, the question is whether a federal agency can permit, or stop, development around dry washes.
A Utah Department of Transportation highway project in St. George has been delayed for months, partly because of the dry-wash issue; and Gov. Gary Herbert has sent a sharply-worded letter accusing a federal agency of infringing the sovereign interests of Utah.
Developers with interests around the new St. George airport claim the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is asserting broad new authority. To protect U.S. waters downstream, they say the USACE is beginning to require more federal permits for projects that affect so-called "ephemeral" or "intermittent" dry washes. Those are natural drainage channels that carry water only following a heavy rain.
Last year, UDOT completed two segments of the new Southern Parkway to the new airport. After the fact, the USACE hit UDOT with stop-work orders because of dry wash issues.
"A good majority of our projects do cross dry washes," says UDOT spokesman Brandon Weston.
Weston says there's always been some federal oversight of dry washes, but the USACE is giving them closer scrutiny -- part of the reason the third segment of the Southern Parkway has been postponed at least six months.
"Just to make sure we're making the right calls on all of those ephemeral washes. That particular project crosses a few, so we want to make sure we know where we're at before we move forward," Weston says.
A developer told KSL news federal officials notified him they will not approve roads across certain dry washes that haven't seen water in three or four years.
Gov. Herbert sent a letter accusing the federal agency of an "unprecedented", "dramatic expansion" of authority by seeking to regulate "the most inconsequential of ephemeral washes throughout the arid West." The governor called it "an extraordinary infringement of the sovereign interests of the State of Utah."
An USACE spokesman in Sacramento denied expanding jurisdiction. He says they are doing a five-year revision of the state permitting process to "ensure minimal impacts on aquatic resources."
"It is important," the spokesman's e-mail said, "that we protect the quality of our inland waters and wetlands for the use and benefit of future generations."
The governor's letter asked the agency to postpone action on the permit revision for a year to allow more discussion with state and local government. The USACE spokesman told KSL his agency will respond to the governor's letter by the end of this week.
