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Inslee listens to a constituent.

Montage of Wing Point in Bainbridge Island and the Edmonds Ferry.

Jay Inslee: Washington's 1st Congressional District

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Plan to privatize federal land meets growing opposition

2 December 2002

U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) met with opponents of a scheme to privatize millions of acres of public land across the West to discuss how the plan pending in Congress would impact Washington state.

Included in the so-called budget reconciliation bill that passed the House last month, is language penned by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) that would reverse a 10-year ban on selling public land to mining companies, reduce the requirements for making new mining claims and allow adjacent land to be used for a range of economic development projects, including ski resorts, golf courses and oil drilling, among other things. Pombo slipped his provision into the budget bill without holding a hearing on its effects in his or any other congressional committee.

Leaders of key conservation groups told Inslee during their meeting in Seattle that up to 12 million acres of public land in Washington could be up for grabs if the language is included in the budget bill pending in Congress.

"Privatizing taxpayers' land is an egregious abuse of the public trust," said Inslee, a member of the resources panel who has opposed Pombo's language since it received a vote in committee. Just this week, he sent a letter urging leaders of the House and Senate Budget committees to exclude Pombo's provision from the final version of the budget bill. The Senate did not include a similar measure in the version of the legislation it passed last month.

"If enacted into law, Rep. Pombo's mining provisions are a huge Christmas present to corporate and private interests," said Sean Smith, Northwest regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association and former National Park ranger. "Sadly, the rest of us, including countless generations to come, would get nothing but the figurative lump of coal this holiday season."

During the briefing, Washington Wilderness Coalition Conservation Director Tom Uniack said of Pombo's language, "Here in Washington state, the provision would put a for-sale sign at clearance prices on our roadless forests, wildlife refuges, as well as national parks and wilderness areas.

Pombo's measure revises the Mining Law of 1872, which allows companies to buy mine claims with valuable mineral resources for a nominal fee - a practice that has been banned each year by Congress since 1995. It also reverses the requirement that claim applicants show evidence that a site contains valuable mineral or metal deposits and opens up land next to mine claims for "sustainable economic development."

House and Senate conferees are expected to be appointed next week to work out differences between the versions passed by the respective chambers. Their final version could be released as early as next week, but negotiations on a provision to allow drilling in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge could delay their report.