SALT LAKE CITY — Former San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman spent 10 days in jail for trespassing in a southern Utah canyon during an all-terrain vehicle ride protesting federal land management policies five years ago.
Now, claiming Bureau of Land Management officials lied during his trial, the first-term Republican Utah House member is suing the agency for $10 million. Lyman, acting as his own attorney, filed the eight-page lawsuit in U.S. District Court last Friday.
Lyman contends the BLM colluded with the media, U.S. Attorney’s Office and environmental groups in a “malicious, knowingly inaccurate and calculated” character assassination. He said he has suffered “incalculable” damage to his good name, reputation, business and political relationships because of BLM administrators’ false court testimony.
“But for the choreographed fallacy promulgated by the BLM prior to the May 2014 event to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, I do not believe that misdemeanor trespass and conspiracy charges would have been filed against me and five other men out of the more than 500 people that participated in the event,” he wrote.
The BLM does not comment on pending litigation, said Kimberly Finch, spokeswoman for the BLM in Utah.
In the lawsuit, Lyman wants a judge to decide whether the road in Recapture Canyon on which he led the ride in May 2014 is a BLM-created maintenance road or a “valid and existing” county road.
“To leave the question unanswered is one thing, but to leave the question unanswered in light of the criminal prosecution of a standing county commissioner on, what appear to be, false charges — especially when the question is so easily answered — is a disservice to the community and to the judicial system,” he wrote.
The BLM closed parts of the canyon to off-road vehicles in 2007, citing damage to cultural artifacts in the area, but it let other authorized uses continue on some sections, including a right of way for the San Juan County Water Conservancy District. Many locals objected to the closure, asserting it was arbitrary and unnecessary, and thwarted a review process mandated by federal law.
Lyman, a certified public accountant, argues that BLM records clearly identify the road as a county road separate from the water district’s right of way, according to the lawsuit. He maintains that the ATV ride stayed on the right of way and did not enter the canyon.
Federal prosecutors at Lyman’s trial said he knew the protest ride he organized was illegal from the time it was first discussed at a February 2014 town hall meeting. They cited emails from Lyman to then-BLM state director Juan Palma asking for his help to turn the illegal ride into a legal one. Palma told Lyman he would not authorize ATVs in the canyon and that the BLM would seek criminal and civil penalties if he violated the closure order, prosecutors said.
A jury convicted Lyman of conspiring to operate off-road vehicles on public lands closed to off-road vehicles, and operation of off-road vehicles on public lands closed to off-road vehicles, both misdemeanors. A judge sentenced him to 10 days in jail and imposed $96,000 restitution.
In January, Lyman submitted a $2.5 million claim to the BLM alleging official employee misconduct. The Department of the Interior denied the claim in May, and told him if he was dissatisfied with the decision he could seek reconsideration in six months or file a federal lawsuit.