[Coalition_for_valle_vidal] Public Lands Giveaway - This Week

[Jim O'Donnell]

PUBLIC LAND SALE TO CORPORATE AMERICA

Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chair of the House Resources Committee, is 
proposing amendments to the US MINING LAWS. The amendments would allow 
multinational corporations to buy all of our public lands -- whether 
they contain any minerals or not - the only public land that would 
exempted are: National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, designated 
Wilderness Areas, National & Historic Trails, National Monuments, Wild 
& Scenic Rivers and National Conservation Areas.

If this passes, it will be the biggest public land grab in US history. 
 If this passes, all our work to protect the Valle Vidal will be for 
naught.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION TODAY!!!

Call and/or fax a simple letter. Tell you Representative you want them 
to oppose the Houses budget reconciliation bill because it allows the 
sale of our public land and guts the existing mining laws. The process 
is a subversion of the legislative process and will permanently harm 
our state.

Rep. Heather Wilson: 202-225-6316 ; 202-225-4975 fax
Rep. Steve Pearce: 202-225-2365 ; 202-225-9599 fax

Also, tells Senator's Bingaman and Domenici that you will not stand for 
this.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman: 202-224-5521
Sen. Pete Domenici: 202-334-6621

DETAILS:

  The "Mining" Section of the Budget Reconciliation is a stealth 
approach to selling public lands.  Pombo's measure would use the 1872 
mining law as a cover for sales and developments that have nothing to 
do with mining. Instead of allowing the lease of land with apparent 
mineral assets, Pombo would allow anyone to buy federal land outright 
for a mere $1,000 an acre. The measure would immediately target some 
367,000 acres in old mining claims in Utah alone, and could metastasize 
to consume all 32 million acres of federal land in the state.  It would 
have much the same result in New Mexico.

The Valle Vidal would be open for bidding.

The bill would:

   - Lift a ban on the sale or "patenting" of public lands to mining 
claim holders that has been in place since 1994.  This action 
immediately allows the sale
  of more than 5.5 million acres of public land,including pristine land 
within wilderness study areas, popular recreation spots, lands adjacent 
to and within
  treasured national parks, important wildlife habitat and critical 
watershed areas.

  - Make new provisions for selling land under the mining law -- 
allowing mining claim holders to buy land which contains or once 
contained valuable
  minerals as well as unlimited blocks of adjacent land. Large expanses 
of nearly 300 million acres of Western public land could be privatized 
under this provision.

  - Exclude any requirement that land purchased actually be used for 
mining, essentially legalizing what was previously considered an abuse 
of the mining
  law and allowing mining companies, real estate developers and others 
to turn treasured natural areas into condos, resorts or other 
inappropriate developments.

  - Remove a requirement to show a "discovery of a valuable mineral 
deposit" before making a purchase or securing rights to the land - a 
requirement that has been in the law since 1872.   Also weakens the 
existing laws requirements for mining claim holders to actually carry 
out claim-related work.

   - Allow mining operations conducted on these "sold" public lands to 
escape federal environmental review and reclamation bonding 
requirements.

  - Create additional opportunities for taxpayer rip-offs by requiring 
the Department of Interior to accept, without review, appraisals 
offered by
  prospective land purchasers.

  - Raise less than half the amount of revenue that could be raised by a 
modest 8% royalty on hardrockbmining companies - a royalty level in 
line with the percentage fees paid by other extractive industries 
removing valuable resources from public land.

  - Threatens revenues raised from oil and gas royalties, since the 
bill's provisions could also be used by extractive industries to 
purchase land
  outright rather than seek lease agreements.

PLEASE!!  Call or Fax Reps. Wilson and Pearce Immediately.  Voice your 
opposition to Pombo's giveaway of our public lands!


For more information, call Oscar Simpson at: 505-345-0117