In Our View - He's at it Again

Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Columbian editorial writers 

Congressman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., has too much time on his hands. He
keeps coming up with ways to remove the "public" from the notion of
"public lands." Better to turn over our national forests and parks to
private enterprise, as he sees it. Potential mining lands in national
parks and forests are his newest target. 

 Pombo's enthusiasm for giving industry whatever it wants is reminiscent
of something Charles Wilson, head of the nation's largest auto
manufacturer, said in the early 1950s that was later the second paragraph
in this sarcasm-drenched ditty: 

 "A rousing cheer, a big hoorah and a hip, hip, hip hooray, 

 "What's Good for general Motors, is Good for the USA" 

 Unfortunately, Pombo is chairman of the House Resources Committee and
thus well situated to do the bidding of private interests that view our
national parks, forests, scenic rivers and the like as potential profit
centers. This year, he opposed creation of the Wild Sky Wilderness Area
in Snohomish County. In September he was half-serious when he proposed a
bill to sell 15 national parks and require the National Park Service to
sell the naming rights to visitors' centers and trails. 

 Some congressional Republicans, fearful of an anti-President Bush
backlash in the 2006 elections, are beginning to distance themselves from
the White House, including on the environmental front. It was no
coincidence that two days after Democrats won governorships of Virginia
and New Jersey last week that 25 House Republicans more moderate than
Pombo announced their opposition to oil exploration in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. But Pombo just keeps pouring it on. Now he
proposes changing federal mining law to make it easier to convert public
land to private land in national forests and parks, including Mount
Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades in Washington and the Gifford Pinchot
National Forest in Southwest Washington. 

 "If this provision became law, it could literally lead to the
privatization of millions of acres of public land," Dave Alberswerth of
The Wilderness Society said. 

 "This is all written in terms of mining claims, but it's really a
real-estate development law," said John Leshy, a law professor who is an
expert on federal mining law. He told The Seattle Post-Intelligencer that
"it could be the biggest privatization of public lands in a hundred
years." 

 The heyday of mining in most of this country is decades behind us, so
many outdoor enthusiasts might not realize it has been only since 1994
that Congress has imposed a moratorium on the purchase of mining claims
on public lands. Pombo would open it up again, making it too easy and too
cheap and allow claims to be easily converted to nonmining uses. 

 Pombo's scheme involved him slipping his proposal into a budget
reconciliation bill in order to circumvent a thorough airing of the
strengths, if there are any, and weaknesses. 

 As Ron Freeman, of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest headquarters in
Vancouver said, "This is something that needs to be thought through by
lawmakers, and not just ramrodded." 

 Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, who opposes the bill, and other Northwest
Democrats must feel like cowboys standing watch over the herd all night
in order to keep track of Pombo's assaults on the public lands. 

 As Allen Rosenfeld of Westerners for Responsible Mining," said, "This is
the great un-American land grab of 2005." 

 

 More information: Google "pombo mining claims." 

 Tell it to Congress: 

 www.house.gov/baird <http://www.house.gov/baird>  and click on "contact
us" 

 Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco: www.hastings <http://www.hastings> .
house.gov and click on "contact Doc" 

 Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Bellevue: www.house.gov/ <http://www.house.gov/> 
reichert and click on "emaildave"  Rep. Cathy McMorris,
R-Colville:www.mcmorris. house.gov 

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