House Advances Plan to Sell Public Acres for Mining

By Peter Sleeth, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Nov. 19–A provision that would allow mining interests to buy up certain parcels of public lands in the West survived with the U.S. House’s passage of a broader budget bill Friday, meaning it now goes to a House-Senate conference committee.

House leaders face difficult talks with the Senate, which passed a more modest budget plan earlier this month.

The House measure would end a congressional ban that since 1994 has prevented mineral companies and individuals from submitting new applications for “patenting,” or buying, public lands, including some in national forests and parks.

The mining provision is a little-noticed part of the House bill, although it is drawing criticism from at least three former chiefs of the U.S. Forest Service.

The measure’s backers said the sales would affect no more than 360,000 acres. Others, however, dispute that tally, saying the acreage will amount to much more, possibly shifting millions of acres into private ownership.

Prices for the federal land would start at $1,000 an acre or fair market value, whichever is more, although the price would not include the value of underlying minerals. Though the land would be sold for mining, buyers could do whatever they want with it. That could include building houses, resorts or other businesses.

Opponents are hoping the mining provision will be lopped off the budget bill while in conference.

“Most of the money is (betting) it is not going to make it through the conference committee,” said Larry Tuttle, co-director of the Portland-based Center for Environmental Equity.

In Oregon and Washington, there are 8,221 mining claims on federal land, about two-thirds of them in Oregon, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Claims in Oregon could be among the first land made available for sale. Claims are thickest in the state’s northeast and southwest corners. Land in national parks, wildlife refuges or wilderness areas could not be sold.

—–

To see more of The Oregonian, or to subscribe the newspaper, go to http://www.oregonian.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.