Johnson
November 20th, 2005, 02:33 AM
The House passed a Pombo(R) mining provision(217 to 215) that now
allows for the sale of most of our national forest and park lands. The
bill allows for selling national forest/parkland to mining and real
estate companies. Those days of parking along side a national forest
stream and fishing where you want are over.
What were you doing while congress sold off the best trout streams in
the nation? Surprised? I bet.
Some of us aren't surprised at all.
I suggest every *real* fly fisherman get on the horn the next 10-14
days and let your senators and reps know how you feel about this before
the Senate can pass it. This dreadful measure was buried in the budget
reconciliation bill, and it is the single worst thing to happen to
hunting and fishing in this country in our entire lifetimes.
Spread this news to every single person you know, post it on every fly
fishing forum you frequent.
Sixty million hunters, anglers and families will forever be locked out
of their public lands thanks to this measure. It makes ANWR look like a
mosquito.
This is for the kids. And their kids. And their kids..... Not for
these selfish jerks in congress.
the appropriate information:
TU:
November 9, 2005
Dear Member of the House of Representatives:
On behalf of Trout Unlimited's 155,000 members nationwide, I am
writing to urge you to vote against H.R. 4241, the Deficit Reduction
Act of 2005 because sections 6201-6207 would allow the sale of public
lands from public ownership.
These harmful provisions allow public lands to be sold off to mining
companies or other development interests for $1000. an acre or the
value of the surface of the land (without regard to the value of the
subsurface minerals). Many of these lands are crucial for fish,
wildlife, and water resources.
Public lands are managed in trust by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management for all the people of the United States, and contain
more than half of the nation's blue-ribbon trout streams. They are
strongholds for all of the imperiled native trout in the western United
States, and contain the best remaining habitat for migrating salmon and
steelhead.
Trout Unlimited is North America's largest coldwater fisheries
conservation organization. Members donated a total of more than
480,000 hours of volunteer time in their communities helping to repair
damaged streams and recover watersheds and much of this work takes
place on public lands.
These harmful provisions were inserted into the bill without any public
hearings. Please vote against H.R. 4241.
-----------
November 17, 2005
Dear Member of the House of Representatives:
We are writing to you on behalf of the tens of millions of hunters and
anglers, wildlife professionals, and commercial interests who use and
enjoy the great American outdoors.
As you know, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this
week on HR 4241, the House Reconciliation Bill. The Mining sections of
this bill (sections 6201-6207) direct the Secretary of Interior to make
public lands available for sale to private entities such as, mining
companies and other development interests for $1,000 per acre. This
action would open these previously public lands to development,
fragmentation, habitat loss, and potential pollution. These amendments
are harmful to fish, wildlife, and their habitats. Equally important,
HR 4241 would reverse a 30-year congressional mandate that public lands
remain in public ownership. This action to put public lands on the
auction block will not be received well by American citizens.
Public lands are managed in trust for all of the people of the United
States by federal agencies such as the Forest Service and the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM). Public lands contain well more than 50 percent
of the nation's blue-ribbon trout streams and are strongholds for
imperiled trout and salmon in the western United States. More than 80
percent of the most critical habitat for elk is found on lands managed
by the Forest Service and the BLM, alone. Antelope, sage grouse, mule
deer, salmon and steelhead, and countless other fish and wildlife
species, as well as the nation's hunters and anglers, are similarly
dependent on public lands.
As more private lands are subdivided or posted, public lands provide
the last access for sportsmen who wish to fish, hunt, and camp with
their families and friends. That access could be compromised as a
result of the Mining sections of the House Reconciliation Bill. As a
result, and on behalf of America's sportsmen and women, we ask that
you insist on the removal of the Mining sections amendment from HR
4241.
Sincerely,
Steven Williams Chris Wood
President Vice President for Conservation
Wildlife Management Institute Trout Unlimited
James Mosher Paul Hansen
Executive Director Executive Director
North American Grouse Partnership Izaak Walton League of America
Jim Martin Jim Posewitz
Conservation Director Executive Director
Berkley Conservation Institute Orion - The Hunters' Institute
Mike Beagle Len Vallender
Executive Director Chair, Conservation Committee
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Campfire Club of America
Evan Hirsche Jim Lyon
President Vice President for Conservation
---------
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-dombeck18nov18,0,4944349.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Your birthright, up for grabs
For sale cheap: 270 million acres of national forest and public land.
It could happen under a budget bill being debated in Congress.
By Mike Dombeck
ALL MY LIFE, I have introduced people to our nation's public lands, as
a seasonal fishing guide in the Upper Midwest, as the head of the
Bureau of Land Management and as the chief of the U.S. Forest Service
- agencies that manage hundreds of millions of acres of public land.
One thing I learned was that Americans love their national forests,
parks and grasslands.
Americans inherit a birthright that is the envy of the world: hundreds
of millions of acres scattered across all regions of the country. The
public estate includes famous places, such as Yellowstone National
Park, and obscure places that make up picnic spots, fishing holes and
weekend getaways. It has been that way for 100 years, thanks to the
conservation legacy sparked by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Unfortunately, our federal public lands are now under siege in
Congress. It seems that some folks simply do not like the idea of the
public owning land. These radicals and ideologues are taking advantage
of the fact that Americans are preoccupied with economic insecurity,
high fuel prices and a war abroad to promote their personal interests
by pushing language in the federal budget bill that would put a "for
sale" sign on 270 million acres of national forest and other public
land.
Here's how it would work:
Congress would reinstate an obscure, obsolete portion of an 1872 mining
law. This would allow mining companies to stake claims on public land
and eventually take ownership through a process called "patenting."
(Congress, with good reason, stopped allowing patenting in 1994.)
But the greed-driven special interest supporters aren't stopping there.
They want to expand the sale of public lands to allow any individual or
corporation to stake a mining claim and purchase it without having to
prove that it contains minerals. This is so broadly defined as to
enable developers, for example, to buy federal land at bargain-basement
prices and "flip" it quickly for projects such as ski chalets or
housing units.
The public would never stand for this if it were done in the open, so
the provision was tucked inside the huge budget-cutting bill being
considered by Congress this week. There, it was obscured by bigger
issues, such as offshore drilling.
There are plenty of examples of how companies have used the 1872 mining
law's patenting provisions to get their hands on public resources dirt
cheap. In 1970, Frank Melluzzo "patented" - bought - public land
near Phoenix for $150. Ten years later, he sold it for more than
$400,000. Today, the Pointe Hilton Hotel in Phoenix sits on this mining
claim. In 1983, Mark Hinton patented national forest land adjacent to
the Keystone ski resort in Colorado. He later sold the parcel for more
than 4,000 times what he paid for it. In 1994, American Barrick Corp.
patented about 1,000 acres of public land in Nevada. That land
contained more than $10 billion in gold reserves. But under the 1872
mining law, it paid only $5,000 for the land and paid not a dime in
royalties to the federal Treasury.
No wonder Congress has prohibited such land deals ever since. Taxpayers
were getting a raw deal.
Now a few folks in Congress want to turn back the clock. The results of
these policies will be a fleecing of the American taxpayer and a
cheating of future generations of public land.
Theodore Roosevelt put it this way: "The nation behaves well if it
treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the
next generation increased, and not impaired, in value."
That kind of leadership is why Roosevelt's face is carved on Mt.
Rushmore. The leadership we are seeing in some dark corners of Congress
will leave Americans with a much different legacy.
------
National Environmental Trust Statement on the 'House's Massive Public
Lands Giveaway'
11/18/2005 8:28:00 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=56945&Link=http://www.usnewswire.com/
Contact: Tony Iallonardo of the National Environmental Trust,
202-887-8855
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement of
Velma Smith, mining campaign director of the National Environmental
Trust, regarding the "House's Massive Public Lands Giveaway":
"There must be better ways to generate revenue than selling off our
national heritage. This is an unprecedented give-away of millions of
acres of public lands to special interests at bargain-basement prices.
"Removing arctic drilling earlier this month didn't turn this bill
green -- it was already the color of money. It is a massive public
lands giveaway to the oil, drilling and real estate industries.
"These are sweeping public policy changes jammed into a bill that is
supposed to be about giving the nation a budget. Lawmakers should strip
these provisions. Liquidating your property to buy lavish sweetheart
gifts is never smart, and in this case, nothing short of shameless."
More Information:
Conservation groups say the House Resources Committee's budgetary
language related to hardrock mining is a full scale rewrite of federal
mining law and worse, a massive public lands giveaway to special
interests.
The provisions are tucked into the massive House budget reconciliation
that passed overnight, and moves on to a conference committee with
Senate negotiators. Conservationists say if House Resources Chairman
Richard Pombo is appointed to that committee by House Republican
leadership, the provision has a reasonably high likelihood of becoming
law.
The provisions end a decade-long Congressional ban on "patenting" or
sale of public lands claimed for mining and creates a new policy of
offering vast areas of Western public lands for sale for non-mining
uses like real estate development and oil drilling. Under the bill,
U.S. and foreign corporations will be able to buy and develop important
natural areas now used for recreation, wildlife, fisheries or regional
drinking water supplies -- including areas within our National Parks,
National Forests, and BLM lands.
The proposal updates prices for the land surface from those of 1872,
when President grant signed the original mining law, but it disregards
the value of the minerals associated with those lands and prohibits the
government from charging royalties for the taxpayers who own these
lands, as it has traditionally done. The bill also allows the resale of
these lands to oil, real estate and other interests.
While the provision's primary backer, Rep. Richard Pombo, says it will
raise some $150 million over 5 years, it in fact sells public assets
for far less than their value, and it raises less than half the revenue
that could be raised by imposing a royalty fee on hardrock minerals
taken from federal lands. While hardrock mining companies, the only
extractive industries still governed by the antiquated law, do not now
pay royalties or lease fees to the federal government; businesses
extracting oil and gas, coal and other commodities from public lands do
make payments to the federal treasury. If these businesses take
advantage of the new Pombo sale language, they will avoid such payments
by purchasing land outright.
For more information, visit http://www.bettermines.org and
http://www.net.org.
------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2005/2005-10-26-03.asp
Pombo Would Sell Federally Protected Lands to Mining Companies
WASHINGTON, DC, October 26, 2005 (ENS) - The House Resources Committee
is set to vote today on a budget measure that would give mining
corporations control over much of America's federal public land.
The budget reconciliation proposal put forward by Resources Committee
Chairman Richard Pombo, a California Republican, would allow foreign
and U.S. mining corporations to buy millions of acres of public lands
in the West, including land in national parks, wilderness and other
protected areas.
In addition, the proposal would undercut budget deficit reduction by
prohibiting the federal government from imposing royalties on minerals
and metals removed from public lands.
Under the 1872 Mining Law, mining companies can buy public land for
$2.50 or $5 an acre. This land sale, known as a patent, gives companies
absolute title to the property.
In August 1995, President Bill Clinton called for a moratorium on
further mining patents on about 19,000 federally owned acres in the
area of Yellowstone National Park. Since then, there has been a
moratorium on this practice, passed in the Interior Appropriations bill
each year.
Congressman Richard Pombo was sworn in to his seventh term in the House
of Representatives in January 2005. He represents California's 11th
Congressional District, including San Joaquin, Alameda, Contra Costa
and Santa Clara Counties. (Photo courtesy Office of the Congressman)
Under Pombo's proposal, mining companies would once again be able to
buy public land, this time for $1,000 an acre - still far below the
true value of the mineral rich land.
Once a patent is granted, officials say, the Mining Law does not permit
them to challenge a company if it decides not to mine a site that could
be resold as real estate.
The committee's ranking Democrat, Congressman Nick Rahall who
represents the mining state of West Virginia, proposed a permanent end
to such patents.
But if the patent moratorium is repealed, treasured places throughout
the West could be permanently removed from America's system of public
lands, said Lauren Pagel, legislative coordinator at Earthworks, a
Washington, DC based nonprofit organization that aims to protect
communities and the environment from the destructive impacts of mineral
development, in the United States and worldwide.
The fate of rivers and streams running through these lands, providing
water for agriculture and municipalities, will be left largely to
mining companies to determine, warned Earthworks, as will the health of
wildlife and game habitat.
Americans who hunt, fish, hike, and recreate in these areas will be
permanently denied the access they now have, Pagel said.
ASARCO, a copper mining company, has asked that over 400 acres be
removed from the Ironwood National Monument near Tucson, Arizona. The
Sierra Club says this land is a prime birthing area for the last viable
population of desert bighorn sheep in Pima County. (Photo courtesy
Sierra Club)
The Pombo proposal would remove the current minimal requirement that
corporations must show that they have found valuable mineral deposits
on public land before they can buy it, so it would open up far more
land for purchase than allowed even by the 1872 Mining Law.
"This is the great un-American land grab of 2005," said Allen
Rosenfeld, a senior advisor for the Westerners for Responsible Mining
campaign.
"Pombo's measure could encourage the largest liquidation of
America's public lands since the Homestead Act of 1862," said
Rosenfeld. "Instead of trail head markers and open access to lakes and
streams, outdoor enthusiasts will be confronted by an unwanted epidemic
of 'no trespassing' signs."
The proposal would be a windfall for foreign and domestic mining
interests that already have staked mining claims covering more than 5.5
million acres of federal land.
The National Mining Association (NMA), an industry group, says, "Many
of this nation's minerals are found on federal lands that comprise 38
percent of the combined land area of the 11 western states where most
minerals and metals mining occurs. National policy affecting the
availability and use of federal lands has significant implications for
whether or not these important resources are developed."
The mining industry argues that even though the United States has
reserves of 78 important mined minerals, the country "has become
increasingly reliant on foreign sources of minerals for products that
are strategically important to our national and economic security."
The NMA cites 2004 figures compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) that show the United States is now 100 percent import dependent
on 17 major minerals.
Since 1993, U.S. reliance on imported sources of minerals has increased
seven-fold, the USGS says. Over the same period, the U.S. share of
worldwide minerals exploration dollars has declined in part because
public policies have made exploration and development in the United
States too inefficient and unpredictable to attract sufficient
investments, the NMA said.
"We need a National Minerals Policy that ensures a fair, predictable
and efficient legal and regulatory climate and fosters production of
minerals that are the foundation of our economy," said the mining
association.
Last year, more than 45,560 new mining claims were recorded by the U.S.
Department of the Interior covering up to 910,000 acres of federal
public lands in the West - a fourfold increase since 2001. This surge
in claim staking, which is being fueled by recent high prices for gold
and other metals, is expected to continue.
"This is highway robbery," said Cathy Carlson, policy advisor to
Earthworks. "And the victims are the nation's taxpayers and
millions of Americans who hunt, fish, hike and make a livelihood from
federal lands in the West."
"If the congressman were truly interested in raising money from the
mining industry to reduce the federal deficit," said Carlson, "he
would better serve the public's interest by imposing a first-ever
royalty on the value of minerals and metals taken from public land."
Two patented mining claims on nine acres adjoining U.S. Forest Service
land near Creede, Colorado are on the market for $70,000. (Photo
courtesy Broken Arrow Ranch & Land)
An eight percent royalty on the value of extracted minerals, similar to
what other extractive industries pay, would yield more than twice as
much federal revenue, about $350 million in five years, as the $155
million Pombo estimates his proposal would raise.
Mining is the only extractive industry operating on public lands that
does not pay any federal royalty, but the Pombo proposal would
explicitly prohibit royalties from being derived from metals and
minerals extracted from mines on federal land. If a royalty were
imposed by future legislation, patented land would be excluded since it
would be privately owned.
Pagel called the Pombo proposal "nothing more than a $1,000 per acre
Trojan horse designed to dupe Congress into giving away public access
to America's special places."
A group of citizens of the 11th Congressional District of California
who are "appalled" to have Pombo as their Congressional Representative
ahve set up website called Vote Pombo Out.org. They say Pombo "has
proven himself a right-wing extremist with a radical conservative
social agenda. His record and views on the environment are particularly
disturbing."
They say Pombo is working to, "sell off our public lands to mining
companies, overturn the Endangered Species Act, restart commercial
whaling, see intensive logging of our national forests, gut the Clear
Air and Clean Water acts, allow drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, and overturn bans on highly toxic pesticides."
------------
allows for the sale of most of our national forest and park lands. The
bill allows for selling national forest/parkland to mining and real
estate companies. Those days of parking along side a national forest
stream and fishing where you want are over.
What were you doing while congress sold off the best trout streams in
the nation? Surprised? I bet.
Some of us aren't surprised at all.
I suggest every *real* fly fisherman get on the horn the next 10-14
days and let your senators and reps know how you feel about this before
the Senate can pass it. This dreadful measure was buried in the budget
reconciliation bill, and it is the single worst thing to happen to
hunting and fishing in this country in our entire lifetimes.
Spread this news to every single person you know, post it on every fly
fishing forum you frequent.
Sixty million hunters, anglers and families will forever be locked out
of their public lands thanks to this measure. It makes ANWR look like a
mosquito.
This is for the kids. And their kids. And their kids..... Not for
these selfish jerks in congress.
the appropriate information:
TU:
November 9, 2005
Dear Member of the House of Representatives:
On behalf of Trout Unlimited's 155,000 members nationwide, I am
writing to urge you to vote against H.R. 4241, the Deficit Reduction
Act of 2005 because sections 6201-6207 would allow the sale of public
lands from public ownership.
These harmful provisions allow public lands to be sold off to mining
companies or other development interests for $1000. an acre or the
value of the surface of the land (without regard to the value of the
subsurface minerals). Many of these lands are crucial for fish,
wildlife, and water resources.
Public lands are managed in trust by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management for all the people of the United States, and contain
more than half of the nation's blue-ribbon trout streams. They are
strongholds for all of the imperiled native trout in the western United
States, and contain the best remaining habitat for migrating salmon and
steelhead.
Trout Unlimited is North America's largest coldwater fisheries
conservation organization. Members donated a total of more than
480,000 hours of volunteer time in their communities helping to repair
damaged streams and recover watersheds and much of this work takes
place on public lands.
These harmful provisions were inserted into the bill without any public
hearings. Please vote against H.R. 4241.
-----------
November 17, 2005
Dear Member of the House of Representatives:
We are writing to you on behalf of the tens of millions of hunters and
anglers, wildlife professionals, and commercial interests who use and
enjoy the great American outdoors.
As you know, the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote this
week on HR 4241, the House Reconciliation Bill. The Mining sections of
this bill (sections 6201-6207) direct the Secretary of Interior to make
public lands available for sale to private entities such as, mining
companies and other development interests for $1,000 per acre. This
action would open these previously public lands to development,
fragmentation, habitat loss, and potential pollution. These amendments
are harmful to fish, wildlife, and their habitats. Equally important,
HR 4241 would reverse a 30-year congressional mandate that public lands
remain in public ownership. This action to put public lands on the
auction block will not be received well by American citizens.
Public lands are managed in trust for all of the people of the United
States by federal agencies such as the Forest Service and the Bureau of
Land Management (BLM). Public lands contain well more than 50 percent
of the nation's blue-ribbon trout streams and are strongholds for
imperiled trout and salmon in the western United States. More than 80
percent of the most critical habitat for elk is found on lands managed
by the Forest Service and the BLM, alone. Antelope, sage grouse, mule
deer, salmon and steelhead, and countless other fish and wildlife
species, as well as the nation's hunters and anglers, are similarly
dependent on public lands.
As more private lands are subdivided or posted, public lands provide
the last access for sportsmen who wish to fish, hunt, and camp with
their families and friends. That access could be compromised as a
result of the Mining sections of the House Reconciliation Bill. As a
result, and on behalf of America's sportsmen and women, we ask that
you insist on the removal of the Mining sections amendment from HR
4241.
Sincerely,
Steven Williams Chris Wood
President Vice President for Conservation
Wildlife Management Institute Trout Unlimited
James Mosher Paul Hansen
Executive Director Executive Director
North American Grouse Partnership Izaak Walton League of America
Jim Martin Jim Posewitz
Conservation Director Executive Director
Berkley Conservation Institute Orion - The Hunters' Institute
Mike Beagle Len Vallender
Executive Director Chair, Conservation Committee
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers Campfire Club of America
Evan Hirsche Jim Lyon
President Vice President for Conservation
---------
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-dombeck18nov18,0,4944349.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Your birthright, up for grabs
For sale cheap: 270 million acres of national forest and public land.
It could happen under a budget bill being debated in Congress.
By Mike Dombeck
ALL MY LIFE, I have introduced people to our nation's public lands, as
a seasonal fishing guide in the Upper Midwest, as the head of the
Bureau of Land Management and as the chief of the U.S. Forest Service
- agencies that manage hundreds of millions of acres of public land.
One thing I learned was that Americans love their national forests,
parks and grasslands.
Americans inherit a birthright that is the envy of the world: hundreds
of millions of acres scattered across all regions of the country. The
public estate includes famous places, such as Yellowstone National
Park, and obscure places that make up picnic spots, fishing holes and
weekend getaways. It has been that way for 100 years, thanks to the
conservation legacy sparked by President Theodore Roosevelt.
Unfortunately, our federal public lands are now under siege in
Congress. It seems that some folks simply do not like the idea of the
public owning land. These radicals and ideologues are taking advantage
of the fact that Americans are preoccupied with economic insecurity,
high fuel prices and a war abroad to promote their personal interests
by pushing language in the federal budget bill that would put a "for
sale" sign on 270 million acres of national forest and other public
land.
Here's how it would work:
Congress would reinstate an obscure, obsolete portion of an 1872 mining
law. This would allow mining companies to stake claims on public land
and eventually take ownership through a process called "patenting."
(Congress, with good reason, stopped allowing patenting in 1994.)
But the greed-driven special interest supporters aren't stopping there.
They want to expand the sale of public lands to allow any individual or
corporation to stake a mining claim and purchase it without having to
prove that it contains minerals. This is so broadly defined as to
enable developers, for example, to buy federal land at bargain-basement
prices and "flip" it quickly for projects such as ski chalets or
housing units.
The public would never stand for this if it were done in the open, so
the provision was tucked inside the huge budget-cutting bill being
considered by Congress this week. There, it was obscured by bigger
issues, such as offshore drilling.
There are plenty of examples of how companies have used the 1872 mining
law's patenting provisions to get their hands on public resources dirt
cheap. In 1970, Frank Melluzzo "patented" - bought - public land
near Phoenix for $150. Ten years later, he sold it for more than
$400,000. Today, the Pointe Hilton Hotel in Phoenix sits on this mining
claim. In 1983, Mark Hinton patented national forest land adjacent to
the Keystone ski resort in Colorado. He later sold the parcel for more
than 4,000 times what he paid for it. In 1994, American Barrick Corp.
patented about 1,000 acres of public land in Nevada. That land
contained more than $10 billion in gold reserves. But under the 1872
mining law, it paid only $5,000 for the land and paid not a dime in
royalties to the federal Treasury.
No wonder Congress has prohibited such land deals ever since. Taxpayers
were getting a raw deal.
Now a few folks in Congress want to turn back the clock. The results of
these policies will be a fleecing of the American taxpayer and a
cheating of future generations of public land.
Theodore Roosevelt put it this way: "The nation behaves well if it
treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the
next generation increased, and not impaired, in value."
That kind of leadership is why Roosevelt's face is carved on Mt.
Rushmore. The leadership we are seeing in some dark corners of Congress
will leave Americans with a much different legacy.
------
National Environmental Trust Statement on the 'House's Massive Public
Lands Giveaway'
11/18/2005 8:28:00 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=56945&Link=http://www.usnewswire.com/
Contact: Tony Iallonardo of the National Environmental Trust,
202-887-8855
WASHINGTON, Nov. 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a statement of
Velma Smith, mining campaign director of the National Environmental
Trust, regarding the "House's Massive Public Lands Giveaway":
"There must be better ways to generate revenue than selling off our
national heritage. This is an unprecedented give-away of millions of
acres of public lands to special interests at bargain-basement prices.
"Removing arctic drilling earlier this month didn't turn this bill
green -- it was already the color of money. It is a massive public
lands giveaway to the oil, drilling and real estate industries.
"These are sweeping public policy changes jammed into a bill that is
supposed to be about giving the nation a budget. Lawmakers should strip
these provisions. Liquidating your property to buy lavish sweetheart
gifts is never smart, and in this case, nothing short of shameless."
More Information:
Conservation groups say the House Resources Committee's budgetary
language related to hardrock mining is a full scale rewrite of federal
mining law and worse, a massive public lands giveaway to special
interests.
The provisions are tucked into the massive House budget reconciliation
that passed overnight, and moves on to a conference committee with
Senate negotiators. Conservationists say if House Resources Chairman
Richard Pombo is appointed to that committee by House Republican
leadership, the provision has a reasonably high likelihood of becoming
law.
The provisions end a decade-long Congressional ban on "patenting" or
sale of public lands claimed for mining and creates a new policy of
offering vast areas of Western public lands for sale for non-mining
uses like real estate development and oil drilling. Under the bill,
U.S. and foreign corporations will be able to buy and develop important
natural areas now used for recreation, wildlife, fisheries or regional
drinking water supplies -- including areas within our National Parks,
National Forests, and BLM lands.
The proposal updates prices for the land surface from those of 1872,
when President grant signed the original mining law, but it disregards
the value of the minerals associated with those lands and prohibits the
government from charging royalties for the taxpayers who own these
lands, as it has traditionally done. The bill also allows the resale of
these lands to oil, real estate and other interests.
While the provision's primary backer, Rep. Richard Pombo, says it will
raise some $150 million over 5 years, it in fact sells public assets
for far less than their value, and it raises less than half the revenue
that could be raised by imposing a royalty fee on hardrock minerals
taken from federal lands. While hardrock mining companies, the only
extractive industries still governed by the antiquated law, do not now
pay royalties or lease fees to the federal government; businesses
extracting oil and gas, coal and other commodities from public lands do
make payments to the federal treasury. If these businesses take
advantage of the new Pombo sale language, they will avoid such payments
by purchasing land outright.
For more information, visit http://www.bettermines.org and
http://www.net.org.
------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2005/2005-10-26-03.asp
Pombo Would Sell Federally Protected Lands to Mining Companies
WASHINGTON, DC, October 26, 2005 (ENS) - The House Resources Committee
is set to vote today on a budget measure that would give mining
corporations control over much of America's federal public land.
The budget reconciliation proposal put forward by Resources Committee
Chairman Richard Pombo, a California Republican, would allow foreign
and U.S. mining corporations to buy millions of acres of public lands
in the West, including land in national parks, wilderness and other
protected areas.
In addition, the proposal would undercut budget deficit reduction by
prohibiting the federal government from imposing royalties on minerals
and metals removed from public lands.
Under the 1872 Mining Law, mining companies can buy public land for
$2.50 or $5 an acre. This land sale, known as a patent, gives companies
absolute title to the property.
In August 1995, President Bill Clinton called for a moratorium on
further mining patents on about 19,000 federally owned acres in the
area of Yellowstone National Park. Since then, there has been a
moratorium on this practice, passed in the Interior Appropriations bill
each year.
Congressman Richard Pombo was sworn in to his seventh term in the House
of Representatives in January 2005. He represents California's 11th
Congressional District, including San Joaquin, Alameda, Contra Costa
and Santa Clara Counties. (Photo courtesy Office of the Congressman)
Under Pombo's proposal, mining companies would once again be able to
buy public land, this time for $1,000 an acre - still far below the
true value of the mineral rich land.
Once a patent is granted, officials say, the Mining Law does not permit
them to challenge a company if it decides not to mine a site that could
be resold as real estate.
The committee's ranking Democrat, Congressman Nick Rahall who
represents the mining state of West Virginia, proposed a permanent end
to such patents.
But if the patent moratorium is repealed, treasured places throughout
the West could be permanently removed from America's system of public
lands, said Lauren Pagel, legislative coordinator at Earthworks, a
Washington, DC based nonprofit organization that aims to protect
communities and the environment from the destructive impacts of mineral
development, in the United States and worldwide.
The fate of rivers and streams running through these lands, providing
water for agriculture and municipalities, will be left largely to
mining companies to determine, warned Earthworks, as will the health of
wildlife and game habitat.
Americans who hunt, fish, hike, and recreate in these areas will be
permanently denied the access they now have, Pagel said.
ASARCO, a copper mining company, has asked that over 400 acres be
removed from the Ironwood National Monument near Tucson, Arizona. The
Sierra Club says this land is a prime birthing area for the last viable
population of desert bighorn sheep in Pima County. (Photo courtesy
Sierra Club)
The Pombo proposal would remove the current minimal requirement that
corporations must show that they have found valuable mineral deposits
on public land before they can buy it, so it would open up far more
land for purchase than allowed even by the 1872 Mining Law.
"This is the great un-American land grab of 2005," said Allen
Rosenfeld, a senior advisor for the Westerners for Responsible Mining
campaign.
"Pombo's measure could encourage the largest liquidation of
America's public lands since the Homestead Act of 1862," said
Rosenfeld. "Instead of trail head markers and open access to lakes and
streams, outdoor enthusiasts will be confronted by an unwanted epidemic
of 'no trespassing' signs."
The proposal would be a windfall for foreign and domestic mining
interests that already have staked mining claims covering more than 5.5
million acres of federal land.
The National Mining Association (NMA), an industry group, says, "Many
of this nation's minerals are found on federal lands that comprise 38
percent of the combined land area of the 11 western states where most
minerals and metals mining occurs. National policy affecting the
availability and use of federal lands has significant implications for
whether or not these important resources are developed."
The mining industry argues that even though the United States has
reserves of 78 important mined minerals, the country "has become
increasingly reliant on foreign sources of minerals for products that
are strategically important to our national and economic security."
The NMA cites 2004 figures compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey
(USGS) that show the United States is now 100 percent import dependent
on 17 major minerals.
Since 1993, U.S. reliance on imported sources of minerals has increased
seven-fold, the USGS says. Over the same period, the U.S. share of
worldwide minerals exploration dollars has declined in part because
public policies have made exploration and development in the United
States too inefficient and unpredictable to attract sufficient
investments, the NMA said.
"We need a National Minerals Policy that ensures a fair, predictable
and efficient legal and regulatory climate and fosters production of
minerals that are the foundation of our economy," said the mining
association.
Last year, more than 45,560 new mining claims were recorded by the U.S.
Department of the Interior covering up to 910,000 acres of federal
public lands in the West - a fourfold increase since 2001. This surge
in claim staking, which is being fueled by recent high prices for gold
and other metals, is expected to continue.
"This is highway robbery," said Cathy Carlson, policy advisor to
Earthworks. "And the victims are the nation's taxpayers and
millions of Americans who hunt, fish, hike and make a livelihood from
federal lands in the West."
"If the congressman were truly interested in raising money from the
mining industry to reduce the federal deficit," said Carlson, "he
would better serve the public's interest by imposing a first-ever
royalty on the value of minerals and metals taken from public land."
Two patented mining claims on nine acres adjoining U.S. Forest Service
land near Creede, Colorado are on the market for $70,000. (Photo
courtesy Broken Arrow Ranch & Land)
An eight percent royalty on the value of extracted minerals, similar to
what other extractive industries pay, would yield more than twice as
much federal revenue, about $350 million in five years, as the $155
million Pombo estimates his proposal would raise.
Mining is the only extractive industry operating on public lands that
does not pay any federal royalty, but the Pombo proposal would
explicitly prohibit royalties from being derived from metals and
minerals extracted from mines on federal land. If a royalty were
imposed by future legislation, patented land would be excluded since it
would be privately owned.
Pagel called the Pombo proposal "nothing more than a $1,000 per acre
Trojan horse designed to dupe Congress into giving away public access
to America's special places."
A group of citizens of the 11th Congressional District of California
who are "appalled" to have Pombo as their Congressional Representative
ahve set up website called Vote Pombo Out.org. They say Pombo "has
proven himself a right-wing extremist with a radical conservative
social agenda. His record and views on the environment are particularly
disturbing."
They say Pombo is working to, "sell off our public lands to mining
companies, overturn the Endangered Species Act, restart commercial
whaling, see intensive logging of our national forests, gut the Clear
Air and Clean Water acts, allow drilling in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, and overturn bans on highly toxic pesticides."
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