Bingaman to attempt Omnibus Public Lands bill

Lame Duck Land Grab "Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) is hoping to pass a package of public lands and wilderness bills during the lame-duck session of Congress. Bingaman's panel has sent more than 60 bills to the floor this session that would create new national parks, monuments, wilderness areas and wildlife sanctuaries. Now he's hoping to bundle them into an omnibus measure for Senate passage before the 111th Congress adjourns, spokesman Bill Wicker confirmed today."Can't get cap-n-trade? Doesn't matter. Just a symptom. Not the disease. The ongoing *direct* land grab (mostly, but not exclusively) out West continues apace while other regulations seal off the land less directly by effectively taking its most productive use...

Lame-Duck Congress Has Plateful of National Park-Related Legislation To Consider There are bills calling for the study of prospective units to the park system and measures that would expand existing units. While The Wilderness Society is calling on Congress to act on these and other wilderness-related measures before the 111th session comes to a close, it will be interesting to see whether the politicians can muster the will to do so. “Up to this point in the Congress, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has approved over 75 land, water, and wildlife bills. The Environment and Public Works Committee and Commerce Committee have approved over 45 land, water, and wildlife bills, and these bills are all still pending before the Senate, and these are among the bills that we’re urging final action on before the Congress adjourns this year," said Paul Spitler, the Society's National Wilderness Campaigns associate director during a conference call last week. “These include bills to protect new wilderness areas, national parks, national monuments, to protect free-flowing rivers and enhance and conserve clean water, and to safeguard America's heritage area, battlefields and historic sites," he added. "They provide important benefits to communities across the country by facilitating economic development and creating jobs, protecting key American natural and historic resources and providing opportunities for all Americans to enjoy the peace and quiet of nature."...more