You know you’ve got a problem when even George W. Bush’s former Interior Secretary doesn’t think the Utah land grab will succeed. From E & E (subscription required):

Former Interior Secretary Gale Norton questioned the viability today of conservatives’ efforts to transfer federal lands to state control…

Asked by Utah state Rep. Ken Ivory, president of the American Lands Council, about the prospects for states taking ownership of federal tracts, Norton said, “I have to admit, I’m somewhat hampered by experience.” She had just concluded a headline speech at a Washington, D.C., summit organized by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council…

“Even during the Reagan administration, that went down in flames,” she said….

“It’s not just the people of Utah that need to be assured that it can work, but the people of New York and California and so forth,” she said. “So it’s a real uphill battle.”

Just uphill? Quixotic is more like it.