By Gary Gerhardt, Rocky Mountain News
December 3, 2005
Six western governors put Congress on notice this week they oppose a measure pending in the U.S. Senate that would open millions of acres of public lands for sale to mining companies.
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal wrote Sens. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., of the Senate Budget Committee, on Thursday saying the sale of public lands in a budget reconciliation bill passed by the House could cut off public access for recreation and deny the states billions of dollars in mineral royalties.... The letter states the House bill would net only $158 million over five years, while current royalties yield more than $2 billion a year, split between the federal government and the states.
The letter was signed by Govs. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, and Christine Gregoire of Washington.
All are Democrats.
The House bill, which would deed lands used for hard-rock mining to private ownership rather than leaving the ground in public ownership as it now does, was sponsored by Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., and set off a firestorm of criticism.
Environmental groups and sportsmen, in particular, say it is a land grab that will privatize much of the lands owned by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, and possibly even spill into national parks, monuments and wildlife refuges as well.
Nice to hear that someone is standing up against Pombo's plans to sell off large chunks of western public lands. Two things are especially interesting about this news. First, opposition to the sale is coming from state politicians, who (especially in the west) frequently are sympathetic to extractive industries like mining. In the past, some western officials have supported the kind of sell-off Pombo wants. Second, the governors cite the sale's impact on recreational outdoorspeople. It's nice to see someone is taking account of us (and hey, we do pump some money into a lot of remote areas), and of the quality of life that access to wild land and water brings.
For me, the availability of large tracts of freely accessible land is one of the truly great and relatively unique things about the United States. Not that I don't appreciate the rest of this country's virtues (not least of which is the right to bitch about what's wrong with it), but from my perspective, there is no more tangible experience of freedom that parking your car at the edge of some forest and just walking in as far as you care to. Even better would be living close enough to such places that I could leave the car at home...someday. For now, I just hope Pombo's scheme goes down in flames.
Tags: Politics; Conservation
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