Mark Udall: “I think the chairman has, with his perfecting amendment, admitted that the administration had perhaps gone a road too…”

“I think the chairman has, with his perfecting amendment, admitted that the administration had perhaps gone a road too far with their proposal, and what the chairman proposes would protect some of the most precious of our public lands against obscure, specious claims of right-of-way access. Unfortunately, the chairman's amendment does not, in my opinion, go quite far enough. Among the things that the chairman excludes from protection are private lands. And I would refer to the Salt Lake Tribune, on Saturday, June 21, 2003, which is an article about a couple, Jana and Ron Smith who, despite having researched and properly purchased their property, found that when they returned at one point from a vacation, that the local district attorney and the road crews had cut a chain, removed a gate, pulled down the private property signs, and provided full access to their very obscure and remote property which they had bought for those values. Unfortunately, they ultimately had to resort to the courts and the courts upheld their rights to the private property.”