Editorial: Public lands up for grabs?

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005 | 8 a.m.

Buried in the recent House spending bill is a provision that would allow mining companies and other private interests to buy and develop millions of acres of public land, including parcels in Nevada.

The measure -- championed by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and placed in the House bill by House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif. -- seeks to rewrite mining laws that have been in effect since 1872.

The proposal, which is really a giveaway to private interests, would allow an individual or company with a mining claim to buy or "patent" that land along with adjacent public land, on which owners could then build such projects as homes or shopping malls.

The federal government banned all patents in 1994. But this new proposal would end the 1994 ban and allow private interests to purchase mining patents on public land regardless of potential mineral deposits. The land would sell for $1,000 an acre or fair market value, whichever is greater.

Proponents say the provision prohibits sales within national parks, federal wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, national monuments, recreation areas and wild and scenic rivers.

But its otherwise vague wording offers no protection to millions of acres of other sensitive public lands. Estimates range from 6 million to 350 million acres, and could include areas slated for sale under the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. Money from those sales pay for local outdoor and conservation projects.

Patents would be allowed on unlimited amounts of public land, as long as one portion touches an existing mining claim. In a Nov. 17 letter to Nevada's congressional delegation, officials from Clark County, Las Vegas and other local agencies say at least 158 mining claims exist within areas eligible for sale under the public land management act.

In addition to undercutting Nevada's carefully crafted public lands management act, this irregular development on public lands could wreak havoc on Clark County's endangered species protection plan.

The Senate's budget bill, passed in October, has no mining provisions. We believe the House-Senate conference committee should strip from the final version this House provision that amounts to open season on our public lands.

And any future attempts to revise mining laws should be presented independently for open, thoughtful public review.