Conservative Billings Gazette says Bush land sale a bad idea

You can read more public land news stories like this, updated daily at www.wilderness-sportsman.com


http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/03/28/opinion/gazette/50-gazetteopinion.txt

"Burns has said this proposal is "dead in the water." Let's hope he's right, but let's not take it for granted. Hunters, hikers, anglers and everyone else who values public land needs to speak up. Congress must say no to selling America's public forest lands for quick cash while finding a way to maintain assistance for rural communities. Rural school aid should not be held hostage by this ill-conceived plan to sell off pieces of our American heritage. "

Sat Mar-25-06 06:27 AM
Original message
Deadline looming -Mar 30 - . National Forest Sell-off

Paul Richards (Candidate for Senate from Montana) has set up a page to protest the sale to private developers of more than a quarter of a million acres of public lands.

We only have until March 30 to get our comments into the National Forest Service.

After six years of undermining protections for public lands and forests, President Bush's FY 2007 budget proposes to sell more than a quarter of a million acres of public lands. This is another example of the Bush administration's loyalty to the logging, oil and gas industries. According to the New York Times, the Department of Interior's budget documents show that they plan to allow companies to pump about billion in oil and natural gas without paying royalties.


The Administration claims that selling forests managed by the U. S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is necessary to generate million to "offset" payments to rural schools. The permanent sale of these forestlands will only temporarily fund the program. This land sale proposal comes only a month after Congress, in the face of widespread, bi-partisan opposition, stripped Representative Pombo's scheme to sell millions of acres of national forests and parks for private development from the federal budget bill.

Please go to his "action" page and he'll forward your remarks to the Park Service and your own reps.

http://www.richards2006.us/petitions /