If you ever want to get a reaction from a public official in Utah, forget polygamy. Instead, mention James Riady. A Clinton payoff to him robbed Utah schools for generations to come:
Mr. Riady’s influence peddling and political-favor bartering paid off in 1996 when President Clinton designated 1.7 million acres of southern Utah as the Grand-Escalante National Monument. The Clean-Air Act eliminates the use of many types of coal by U.S. power companies with the exception of hyper-low sulfur coal. This type of coal is known to exist in only three locations: 1. an extremely remote area of Colombia; 2. Kalimantan Island in Indonesia and 3. Grand-Escalante National Monument. The creation of this national monument gave the coal deposits on Kalimantan Island that are controlled by the Riady family and the Indonesian government a near monopoly on the sale of the sought-after coal.
“President Clinton explained that the creation of the Grand-Escalante National Monument was done out of environmental concern to protect the land from development. However, the Court, respectfully, must conclude that there was no such environmental concern regarding Grand-Escalante National Monument. In 1997, the Clinton-Gore administration awarded Conoco Oil Corporation an oil-drilling contract for the Grand-Escalante National Monument. Mr. Riady appears to have successfully cashed-in a political favor with the Clinton administration in order to gain a coal monopoly.”
http://www.aim.org/aim-report/aim-report-the-case-against-james-riady/
By Utah law, the profits from that land were to go to Utah public schools.
“Mr. Riady’s influence peddling and political-favor bartering paid off in 1996 when President Clinton designated 1.7 million acres of southern Utah as the Grand-Escalante National Monument.”
Yup:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/724170/posts
That Trillion-Dollar Ripoff— Clinton’s Utah Coal Deal
various websites | 7-29-02 | The Heavy Equipment Guy