Richard Pombo (R-CA) and James Gibbon (R-NV) have inserted a provision into the budget reconciliation act that would allow the Bargain Basement Sale of public lands–under the guise of making adjustments in the Mining Act.
There are two things that need to happen. Neither Mr. Pombo nor Mr. Gibbons should be appointed to the conference committee regarding this bill. And, the provision should be stricken.
The message is simple: sections 6201-6207 of HR4241 must be deleted.
While members of Congress are home for the holidays, please consider contacting their offices and sending some letters to editors. Our National Forests and public lands are not for sale to developers? Well, yes they are if these provisions stay in the bill!
The extended copy includes some sources that are useful rebuttals for this latest Republican Giveaway. This diary includes information from discussions on DKos.
Sources and Information:
U.S. Newswire, Tony Lallonardo- National Environmental Trust
“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.
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.”
“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.”
Additional Information:
Amanda G. Little’s article in Grist Magazine
Please consider taking just a couple of minutes from your Thanksgiving holiday to call your Congressional Representative or Senator, and talking to friends and family about this issue. Thanks.
Glad you brought this up. The proposed privatization of our public lands is nothing short of a 21st C landgrab, that could eclipse the scope of the 19th C railroad barons. Pombo has been instrumental in the drive to open ANWR and the recent assault to gut the Endangered Species Act.
This isn’t even remotely close to “fiscal conservatism” either. From Environmental Working Group’s report, Dirt Cheap:
Pombo’s legislation does increase the price of claimed land to $1,000 an acre or fair market value, whichever is greater, but under the bill “fair market value” explicitly excludes the value of minerals hidden below the land’s surface that could be worth billions of dollars (Pombo 2005a)
Windfalls profits led to a moratorium in 1994:
This cozy relationship, an artifact of the 1872 Mining Act, has produced some of the most spectacular windfalls in American history. In 1994, a Canadian company, Barrick, purchased 1,900 acres near Elko Nevada for less than $10,000 and gained sole access to gold reserves worth $10 billion (McClure and Schneider 2001). In the early 1990’s, Chevron and Manville Sales corporation pieced together claims on 2,000 acres of national forest in Montana, gaining control of $16 billion in platinum and paladium reserves, with nary a penny in royalties sent to the federal treasury (McClure and Schneider 2001, Bumpers 1998).
Rather than applying even a tiny royalty to these claims, Pombo would simply sell the land. He justifies his bill in terms of economic development but the legislation represents the worst possible option for taxpayers. At most, Pombo would raise $158 million over five years, while forever losing millions of acres of prized public assets in 12 western states and Alaska.
If Pombo wants to bring money to the treasury from mining lands, a modest four percent royalty on the market value of minerals extracted from current mining claims on public lands would yield about $175 million over the same 5 year period, and the public would still own that land and continue to collect royalties as long as the land were producing (Earthworks 2005).
So what exactly is Pombo proposing here?
The impact of the Pombo proposal would be staggering. It would:
–Put 5.7 million acres of public lands with existing mining claims up for sale immediately upon passage, including more than 2 million acres of claims inside or with 5 miles of national parks, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, national forests and prized public assets.
–Open up as many as 350 million acres of public lands for sale to the highest bidder.
–Eliminate the current requirement that mining claim holders demonstrate valuable mineral deposits under the land.
Since 1994, Congress has imposed a moratorium on the sale of land with mining claims in an effort to end years of multibillion-dollar taxpayer rip-offs. Pombo’s legislation, approved by the House Resources Committee and expected to reach the House floor next week, reverses that policy, but it doesn’t stop there. The bill would also remove the requirement that mining claim holders substantiate the presence of valuable mineral deposits under the claim. Under the Pombo bill, anyone can stake a mining claim to any piece of public land open to mining and then simply buy it. Foreign mining corporations, real estate developers, or oil and gas companies rolling in record profits could simply stake claims and take title to millions of acres of land that for more than 100 years have been owned by the citizens of the United States.
These land sales are known as patents. UPI’s John Heilprin explains:
So who’s interest is this this environmental rapist/corporate shill working for? Pombo’s in Their Pocket reports that he has:
Pombo also has what’s known as a leadership PAC, called of all things – RICHPAC. RICHPAC took over $400,000 in contributions in 2004 from lobbyists and developers. His most notorious contribution came from the indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff who gave him the legal limit of $5,000. Go to Opensecrets.org and see the entire list of contributors.
(my emphasis)
Excellent background information for those new to this issue! Thank you very much for adding it. To repeat my bellowing: The proposal fleeces the American Taxpayers; Sells off our grandchildren’s heritage; and, only enriches the exploiters and polluters.
Thank you again for your interest–and for the informative clips of information.
Thanks for posting this. It is very important. Recommended.