Here's an update on the Pombo land grab/mining provisions contained in the budget reconciliation bill now moving through Congress.
House bill passed in the dark of night
Last Friday, in the wee hours of the morning, the budget reconciliation bill (HR4241, The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005) passed the House by 217-215. Unfortunately, it still contained the land grab provisions. However, the bill is not law and we can still strip the "mining" language from the bill.
Update from Bettermines.org below the fold. Check out the cartoon in the Seattle P-I, it's good
Increased media coverage of the Pombo land-grab like this cartoon in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reflect the increasing public pressure to strip the language from the final budget bill.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...
On to the Senate
The Senate version of the budget bill, which has passed the Senate, doesn't include the Pombo land grab. When the Senate and House meet in conference to reconcile the differences between their two bills, we will have an opportunity to get the land grab language stripped.
So after the Thanksgiving holiday, it will be time to urge Senators to oppose the "mining" language.
Gaining Traction
There is good reason to believe that the mining language will be dropped in conference. A veritable deluge of news coverage of Pombo's outrageous land grab proposal shows that people (and the Senate) are waking up to the seriousness of the threat. You can read most of the coverage at www.bettermines.org/pombo.cfm. But here's a few of the best articles and editorials:
Some Fear a Vast Sell-Off of U.S. Land, Los Angeles Times, 11/16/2005
http://www.latimes.com/...
Jewellers throw weight behind mining bill protest, Financial Times (subscription), 11/17/2005,
http://news.ft.com/...
EDITORIAL - U.S. mining loophole risks land speculation, Denver Post, 11/19/2005,
http://www.denverpost.com/...
Senator Bingaman (D-NM): "I will work to keep the [Pombo land grab] out of the final bill."
http://www.bettermines.org/...
Thank your Representative
Learn how your Representative voted on the budget bill http://clerk.house.gov/....
The correct vote was NO. If your member voted correctly, please give them a call and thank them for voting against the budget reconciliation bill containing the Pombo mining provision.
More information on the Pombo Land Grab http://www.bettermines.org/...