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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2005
Contact:
Paul Hughes, executive director: (415) 974-4201; paul@forestsforever.org
Marc Lecard, communications manager: (415) 974-4202; marc@forestsforever.org
Pombo/Gibbons
public-lands giveaway defeated
Public outcry forces withdrawal of 1872 Mining Law revisions
Reps.
Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Jim Gibbons (R-NV) yesterday withdrew their
controversial mining law provisions from the Deficit Reduction Act
of 2005, the House version of the bill authorizing the federal budget
for the next year.
The proposed revisions of the 1872 Mining Law would have privatized
millions of acres of public lands and allowed mining and real estate
development within national forests and parks.
“Forests Forever applauds the hard work of thousands of concerned
citizens whose letters and phone calls alerted their political representatives
to the importance of this underhanded attempt to sell off large
tracts of public land,” said Paul Hughes, Forests Forever’s
executive director. “Issues as critical and far-reaching as
this should be debated in the open, not hidden in unrelated appropriations
measures.”
Resistance to the changes was broad-based, ranging from U.S. senators,
state governors, and academics to fishermen, hunters, and environmentalists.
Under the provisions of the 1872 Mining Law, a claim– the
right to mine minerals on public land– can also be “patented,”
that is, bought outright from the federal government for, at most,
$5 an acre.
Pombo and Gibbon’s rewrite would have ended a 1994 moratorium
on such sales and allowed public lands to be patented for $1000
an acre, or market value, whether or not the land contained valuable
minerals. Public lands could have been claimed for mineral rights,
patented, then developed with hotels, condos or ski resorts.
“Forests Forever was one voice among many urging senators
to strip out the mining law provisions inserted by Pombo and Gibbons,”
Hughes said. “We can expect more attempts from mining interests
and real estate developers to steal our public parks and forests
for private profit. But when proposals like these are exposed to
the light of day, public opinion will always be against them.”
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