Utah’s House Congressmen Send letters Asking for National Parks To Be Staffed On “Emergency Basis”
Jan 5, 2019, 5:14 PM | Updated: 10:23 pm
WASHINGTON, D.C. – For as beautiful as National Parks are, they can also be dangerous.
If someone gets hurt in one during the government shutdown, it can be awhile before they’re rescued.
That’s why Utah District 1 Representative Rob Bishop sent a letter to the acting secretary of the Department of the Interior requesting funding to fully staff the parks on an emergency basis.
“People can not only get ill because of the situation, but they can also die in National Parks. It’s not necessarily the safest place in the world,” said Rep. Bishop. “So it needs more than just a skeleton crew and it needs more than just being open and I think the law allows for emergency funding in these types of situations.”
He’s talking about a provision of the Anti-deficiency Act.
“It applies for any kind of emergency situations which may be a life and death situation,” said Bishop.
Utah District 2 Representative Chris Stewart and District 3 Representative John Curtis also signed that letter with Bishop, saying this is an emergency situation.
“It’s a very technical interpretation of some language, but we are very hopeful and we have had strong indications from the Department of the Interior that they’re happy to receive our letter and that they’re going to work with us on this and that it will happen very quickly,” said Rep. Stewart.
That would also be great news for the small communities that rely on the National Parks.
“We have an economy that’s really doing well in much of Utah,” said Rep. Curtis. “But it’s hurting in rural Utah and that’s generally where these parks are located.”
Although Democratic District 4 Representative Ben McAdams wasn’t included in the Republicans letter, he agrees with them and sent his own letter to the Acting Secretary of the Department of the Interior asking for the funding on an emergency basis.
“To make sure people and visitors of Utah’s National Parks are safe during the shutdown,” said Rep. McAdams. “We can mitigate any negative impacts to the people of Utah as we work to get the government back open again.”
