Pombo is still after our public lands

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It’s not bad enough that Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Ca.) wrote legislation to gut the Endangered Species Act under the guise of protecting farmers and ranchers from onerous restrictions on use of their land.

In his continuing crusade against the environment, Pombo (along with Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.) has tucked into a budget bill changes to existing mining regulations that could spur a sell-off of public lands.

His strategy is now clear. In September, he suggested the federal government should reduce the deficit by selling 15 national parks along with naming rights to visitor centers and trails, a proposal so outrageous it had no chance of passing. He then writes something slightly less bad that squeaks through because it’s not as egregious as the first.

This provision, inserted into budget legislation with no public comment or even open discussion by lawmakers, has more to do with development of public lands than “mining law reform.” The House passed the budget bill in November, though there is hope Pombo’s provision could be pulled before it gets signed into law by the president.

Called “the far right’s granddaddy of all land-grabs” by Roger Flynn, director of the Western Mining Action Project, it would lift a moratorium on mining patents and relieve miners from having to prove the existence of valuable mineral deposits before staking their claims. If this flies, any developer could file a claim and purchase public land to build just about anything they liked. No need to drill for oil or gas, just subdivide and resell.

Most national parks and wilderness areas, but not forests, are protected from this sort of pillaging. But Yosemite, Joshua Tree, North Cascades and Death Valley have claims that predate the parks’ creation and could be auctioned off for development.

Existing law allows mining companies to file claims and extract minerals under lease agreements, paying royalties of 12.5 percent to the landholder, i.e., the government.

Pombo’s claim that selling the land would help balance the budget is completely bogus. True, miners would pay $1,000 per acre or fair market value to purchase, instead of the current $2.50 to $5 per acre for their claims. But this would net the government only about $158 million over five years (according to Congressional Budget Office estimates). This pales in comparison to the $2 billion in royalties paid last year alone by oil, gas, coal and other extractors.

Half of the royalties go to the states where the claims are worked and half to the federal government. In Wyoming, royalties from extraction industries and the state’s “severance” tax on drilling support whole towns. The state doesn’t even need to charge income taxes.

Public lands sold under Pombo’s provision would include the mineral rights, something no home or ranch purchaser in recent memory has received. Theoretically, the government could lease oil-drilling rights on our private properties and retain the royalties. How would you like a drilling rig in your back yard? How would your experience of Yosemite be compromised by drilling rigs or strip mining, or the construction of fast food joints and condos after the minerals are gone?

And that’s another point. Current law requires mining companies to remove all their roads, power lines and buildings when they’re through extracting minerals. Still, damages to the environment from strip-mining and coal bed methane extraction have rarely been made to anyone’s satisfaction.

Pombo claims that states and counties want to use infrastructure left behind by mineral extractors when they pack up and leave. This does not apply to park and wilderness areas where local officials prefer to have the land returned as much as possible to its natural state.

What is it that Pombo doesn’t understand about public lands belonging to the public?

That’s all of us.

We taxpayers have paid for national parks, forests and wilderness areas to be kept for all of us to enjoy in all of their natural beauty. Our taxes pay for the maintenance of the visitor facilities, the hiking and cross-country ski trails. When a timber company can buy and clear-cut unlimited acres of national forest, what will be left for our children?

Most of us who visit and love our public lands pay not only for park passes, camping fees or hotel rooms, but annually donate to the conservancies and foundations that maintain parks and adjacent public lands.

The only other thing we can do is to vote Pombo and his ilk out of office next year. Meanwhile, we can tell our senators to pull these destructive provisions from budget bills before they pass. Because once they get to the Oval Office, well, our president has apparently never met a bill he didn’t like.