Bill would open public land

[natrat]

Thousands of acres could be privatized

By ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

More than 50,000 acres of old mining claims in Washington -- including some inside Mount Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades national parks -- could be converted to private land under legislation expected to pass the U.S. House next week.

beautiful country in the cascades
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/248143_mining12.html

[merwin]

1. This needs to be stopped!

[SomewhereOutThere424]

2. The ball is in their court

The democrats seem to have been doing well lately. Now with such important issues as this, which could turn 50 thousand acres of the united states into parking lots, let's see what they do.

I'm curious to see if my vote does matter

[HereSince1628]

3. And aren't they proposing selling it at prices from the 1800s?

Even if weren't parkland, this seems like malfeasance. They could at least get something like a fair price.

[brentspeak]

4. Hideous corruption. More of the Bush "ownership society"

Where rich cronies own society.

[halobeam]

5. In Bush's Amerika, only the rich will see mountains and rivers

lakes and streams, beaches and open fields. The rest of us? A brick f***ing wall.

Take your kids camping now, soon, they won't be able to row a boat and go fishing.

[fooj]

6. WTF? The rat bastards are out of control.

:grr:

[oneold1-4u]

7. THEY DO NOT OWN THE LAND!

THEY SHOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO SELL WHAT THEY DO NOT OWN!
For the government to sell one more thing that doesn't belong to them, is a CRIME! Of course if there was a choice for me, I think Washington DC should be sold tomorrow, back to all the American Indians of this country and they could then collect the HIGH RENTS from everyone who is there including the occupants of congress, white house, supreme court,etc, and all paid from private incomes just to use any of it! Otherwise they could stay home and do as good a job!

[SomewhereOutThere424]

8. True words

as I said once here on DU...even if you're not for an immediate goal, the long term is just as effective. If you don't support animal rights, support people's rights, when animals aren't there to pick on they'll move to YOU. If you're not for protecting wildlife/public land, then you should still go against it -- it is not their place to sell it and when all the public land is gone, your land is next.

[Earth_First]

9. Lovely how this was tacked onto the Budget, certain pass legislation

THIS SH*T NEEDS TO END!

*'s second war is silently being waged against the environment, with little to NO public attention, it's pathetic!

Thirty years of environmental policy, gone...

Thanks, shi*thead!

[nashville_brook]

10. 20 acres for 7500 bucks -- gee, sign me up

Critics, though, note that the bill would allow someone to claim 20 acres, perform $7,500 of work on it -- easily blown through in a consultant's study or some drilling work -- and then sell the land for development.

"They could turn it over to real estate speculators, foreign companies -- whoever wants to buy it," said Dusty Horwitt, an analyst for the Environmental Working Group, which makes its points through data-crunching.

[tularetom]

11. Without even opening the link

I know that richard pombo (R.-Assipe) is behind this. He's from the district right next to ours and it should be fairly easy to throw his ass out in 06 if the Dems can find somebody with backbone to run. The district includes the outer ring of SF Bay Area suburbs and has become more democratic since the new transplants begin to outvote the necks and religious wackos that lived there for years. Demographically Pombo is on borrowed time anyway (barring redistricting) but airing idiot proposals like this will only make his assholism more visible.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

12. The arrogance of the people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These assholes don't know the value of anything.

:grr:

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Who's pointman on this issue?

Generally there's someone, like the Sierra Club, who's circulating a petition. Just send it this way.

[Pastiche423]

21. I belong to several email lists

Among them is Earth Justice. They have been working on this issue for quite awhile. Through them, I have sent many, many emails to my Rep and senators re: this assinine bill.

Check them out:

http://www.earthjustice.org/

[Kurovski]

14. They're going to get in everything they want before BushCo

is tossed out of the White House.

[annabanana]

15. kickin' in the am......n/t

[natrat]

16. when there are all kinds of distractions ,,,slip something like this in

amd they won't notice. No they won't notice that missing 50 million acres.

[glitch]

17. Fuckers. This is a very important article to read all the way through.

some snips:

"They want to give away the taxpayers' gold," said Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and a member of the Resources Committee. "If somebody went to Fort Knox and took gold out, they'd be in jail for the rest of their lives. But in national forests, people can take gold (under the bill) and be considered friends of the Republican Party."

A Seattle-area Republican, Rep. Dave Reichert, is portrayed by environmentalists as a "swing vote" in the mining controversy. But Reichert probably won't be doing much to stop the mining provision. He already went against the Republican House leadership to remove from the pending legislation a provision allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

"There are other parts of the bill we're going to work on, but you can only do so much," said Mike Shields, Reichert's chief of staff. "There are some things that Dave likes about the bill. He's going to vote for it."

"This isn't even a wolf in sheep's clothing. It's a werewolf in wolf's clothing," said Roger Flynn of the Western Mining Action Project.

K&R :(

[natrat]

18. and it's short :) ...still can't believe this can happen

[glitch]

20. This makes me LIVID. I hate getting livid, it makes me aggressive.

These guys are just cruising for a bruising. :grr:

[Ferret Annica]

19. They must be stopped at all costs

This land is our children's children's children's inheritance. IT should not belong to the rich as an entitlement of privilege only to be enjoyed by them and their heirs.

[Polemonium]

22. This makes ANWAR look small

Can we please get rid of POMBO in '06.

[Cha]

23. How could there be so many

dirty, scummy, republicans together at one point in history to destroy our blood, land, and treasure?

This has to be halted like ANWAR.

[drduffy]

24. how do we become something more than just air?

we say this must be stopped. I agree but I despair because I haven't foggiest notion as to how to do so. Out whole country is slipping away to the fascists.

If there ever is a revolution or a resurgence of dems, I hope the names of these traitors are remembered and the miscreants dealt with. Along with those who took advantage.

[DeepModem Mom]

25. LAT: Some Fear a Vast Sell-Off of U.S. Land (millions of acres)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lands16nov16,0,1529178.story?coll=la-home-local

[senaca]

27. kick n/t.

[senaca]

26. This needs to get on progressive radio

The more people hearing about this land grab attempt the better.

[KansDem]

28. Get it while you can, boys!

You're boy's going down and taking you with him. Better grab what you can before you miss your chance!
:sarcasm:

This is a poor excuse for domestic policy.