It looks like this will be looked at December 6th in comittee. It
passed the House already.

http://www.tu.org/atf/cf/{0D18ECB7-7347-445B-A38E-65B282BBBD8A}/Sale%20of%20Public%20Lands%20fact%20sheet%20FINAL. pdf

In December, a House-Senate Conference Committee will meet to determine
the f
of millions of acres of public lands. At issue is a provision that
would allow for the
sale of millions of acres of public lands to real estate developers,
mining com
and other development interests. These harmful measures to fish and
wildlife are
buried within the House Reconciliation Bill, and were inserted without
public notice
or debate by U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA).
ate
panies,
The Reconciliation bill passed by the Senate does not include these
measures. Trout Unlimited
strongly urges the conferees to strike these sections.
Issue
Sections 6201-6207 of S. 1932, the Reconciliation Bill, would amend the
1872 Mining Law and
allow mining companies and others who claim an interest in mining, to
buy publicly-owned lands for
$1,000 per acre. Pombo's provisions would actually weaken standards
set under the
environmentally-lax 1872 Mining Law by allowing development interests
to privatize public land
without public review or federal oversight.
Fish and Wildlife Thrive on Public Lands
Public lands are managed in trust by the U.S. Forest Service and the
Bureau of Land Management for
all of the people of the United States. They contain more than 50
percent of the nation's blue-ribbon
trout streams. They are strongholds for imperiled native trout in the
western United States and brook
trout in the East. In addition, they contain the best remaining habitat
for migrating salmon and
steelhead. More than 25 percent of the nation's drinking water flows
across national forests, alone.
Hunting and Fishing Rights Are at Risk
Pombo's fire-sale of public lands would reverse a 30-year
congressional mandate that public lands
remain in public ownership. 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 would be effectively lost as a result of Pombo's legislation.
Proponents of the bill claim that access to these lands will be
maintained for hunters and anglers, but
these are hollow promises. No legal mechanisms exist to guarantee
hunting and fishing rights on
private land.
No Opportunity Exists for Public Comment
The firesale provisions were inserted into the Reconciliation Bill
without any legislative hearing.
They are buried within hundreds of pages of unrelated legislation,
which is subject to an expedited
approval process. The serious and far-ranging implications of these
measures demand that they be
considered in the full light of day.
For more information, contact Brian O'Donnell, Director of Trout
Unlimited's Public Lands
Initiative, (970) 903-0276 or .