WildEarth Guardians

Saturday, December 3, 2005
Mining legislation: Lawmakers skeptical of public-land-sale plan

A congressional plan allowing the sale of millions of acres of public lands could do permanent harm to everything from agriculture and the environment - The plan is based on "absurd economics"
Contact: Jennifer Talhelm

Washington - Six Western governors and a growing number of senators say they fear a congressional plan allowing the sale of millions of acres of public lands could do permanent harm to everything from agriculture and the environment to the ski industry.

"It's got implications for hunters, sportsmen, people who use lands for grazing and basically anybody who uses public lands," said Angela de Rocha, a spokesman for Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard, one of a handful of Republican senators expressing concern about the proposal.

The plan, contained in a House-approved budget bill, would change a landmark 1872 mining law that allows private companies to buy land at dirt-cheap prices -- $2.50 to $5 an acre -- for minerals such as gold and silver. Congress has banned new patents under the law for 11 years.

The House plan would raise the fee to $1,000 an acre or fair-market value, whichever is more, but critics say it would also dramatically loosen the requirements for staking a claim and effectively open millions of acres of federal land to development, including wilderness study areas.

The Interior Department says the plan could affect up to 20 million acres, while environmentalists say it could allow the government to sell 350 million acres.

The provision is not in the Senate's budget measure, which means lawmakers will hammer out a compromise later this month.

In a letter sent Friday to the Senate Budget Committee, the Democratic governors of Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington said the plan is based on "absurd economics" and threatens access tonational parks and other public land.

A few GOP senators, including Allard, have already indicated they have questions. Montana Sen. Conrad Burns, a Republican, said last month he supported the idea of selling public lands but felt the bill posed "potential negative impacts." Wyoming's Sen. Craig Thomas, also a Republican, this week called the bill a "Band-Aid fix to the Mining Act" that could become a "chronic injury to land use."

Opponents say GOP Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, a member of the Budget Committee who has not taken a position, could play a key role in deciding whether the plan stays in the final bill. Starting Monday, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation will air radio ads and launch a campaign opposing what it calls a "corporate giveaway."

"I call it the biggest land grab since the Oklahoma rush," said Oscar Simpson, the group's president.

Supporters say opponents are blowing the plan out of proportion.

Brian Kennedy, a spokesman for House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said the bill is about "sustainable economic development for rural communities in need," and Pombo would be open to negotiating some changes.

"If all sides can focus on that goal -- and I don't think anyone would want to stand in the way of it -- then I don't see why this can't be approved by the conference committee," Kennedy said.

Copyright 2005 Santa Fe New Mexican - Reprinted with permission