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