Congress should strike public land grab from bill

[montana500]

www.wilderness-sportsman.com


"Here is a quick review of what the House-passed bill would do:

€ Throw open for sale tens of millions of acres of public lands in the West, including portions of national parks and monuments, wilderness areas and wild and scenic rivers that have valid mining claims within their boundaries.

€ Extend the sale of these treasured public lands far beyond anything having to do with hardrock mining. The provisions would set up an extremely broadly defined “economic development” program that would allow any individual or corporation to stake a mining claim and purchase it -- without having to prove it contains minerals. The program could enable developers, for example, to buy federal land at bargain basement prices and "flip" it quickly for ski chalets or housing developments.

€ Allow oil, gas, coal and other corporations to buy public lands, instead of leasing them as current law requires, and thereby avoid significant federal environmental oversight of their operations and having to pay royalties to the federal Treasury and western states. For example, energy corporations held leases to drill for oil, gas, and coal-bed methane on more than 35 million acres of federal public land in 2004. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, these corporations paid approximately $2 billion in federal royalties last year of which half was returned to western states where drilling occurred. These leased lands could be open for sale if the bill becomes law."

[texpatriot2004]

1. You are right Montana, as usual. nm

[montana500]

2. Tex, it looks like what Moby says is more important....

than selling off our national treasures and monuments to industry...