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The short explanation of this alert was:

 
Pombo's proposal would allow the
privatization of almost all
public lands for any purpose, including putting a housing development directly adjacent
to Grand Canyon National Park. 
Illustration: Skytruth

Tuesday, Nov 15, the leadership of the House of Representatives will try to bring to a vote the Budget bill containing a proposal to weaken the already anemic U.S. mining laws and put millions of acres of public lands up for sale. We need your help now in letting your Representative know that they must vote down the Budget bill so long as it contains the Pombo mining subtitle. Please ACT NOW.

A Public Lands Fire Sale
Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chair of the House Resources committee, is trying to eviscerate existing U.S. mining laws so that multinational corporations can buy all of our public lands -- whether they contain minerals or not (except those withdrawn for another purpose like a National Park).  We need your help to stop this public lands fire sale.

Weakening the existing mining law would be a pretty amazing feat -- the existing statute was signed into law by President Ulysses S Grant in 1872.  It was basically a land giveaway intended to induce people into settling the West by allowing citizens to buy mineral bearing public lands for $5/acre, or less.

Selling the Public Trust
133 years later, Rep. Pombo is proposing to change the mining law to allow corporations to purchase any public lands not withdrawn for another purpose -- whether the land in question contain minerals or NOT.   Hundreds of millions of acres of public land would be up for grabs under a mining law that would no longer be about mining.  Lands supposed to be held in trust for all Americans, now and for future generations, would be sold off in a public lands fire sale.

A Revenue Raiser... not
Ostensibly, Rep Pombo is trying to raise revenue with his proposal.  But his initiative specifically prohibits a royalty that would raise more than twice as much money ($350 million over 5 years) as he claims his proposal would generate ($155 million over 5 years). Adding insult to injury, this proposal opens up the possibility that energy companies may buy all oil/gas/coal bearing public lands -- potentially exempting them from $2 billion a year they now pay taxpayers.

TAKE ACTION! HR4241, the Budget bill containing Pombo's mining language, is scheduled to come to a vote on Nov 15. We need your help!  Send (and please amend) the letter below to your Representative telling him/her to oppose the Budget bill as long as it contains Pombo's mining subtitle.



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