Seattle Times expose,
GOVERNMENT'S
LAND EXCHANGES IN THE WEST
RAISE
A NEW SPECTRE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SECRECY
A stunning six part series of articles ran in the Seattle Times
Sep. 27 to Oct 2, tearing the lid off of a new corporate and
environmental secrecy scandal the use of well-shielded land
swaps to give away public lands to private corporations.
Investigators have determined that millions of dollars in
taxpayer value is being given away to corporations by means of
inappropriate barters of land. The companies, especially
forest and mining companies, typically manage to acquire the
lands by preparing or arranging for biased appraisals, which
deflate the value of government lands and inflate the value of
land held by the corporations.
These appraisals are shrouded in secrecy until the swap is a done
deal. Then the only way to challenge the deals is for taxpayers
to sue. The articles also profile retaliatory firings of
government whistleblowers who attempted to put a halt to these
giveaways.
You can read the entire series online at www.seattletimes.com , or
by following the links below:
Part 1:
Government land trades leave questions about how public fared
>Mining
Company Phelps Dodge Uses Very Close Ties with Government in Land
Swaps
Part 2: Private
owners play games of backcountry speculation
Part 3:
Environmental groups profit from land trades
Part 4: Federal
appraisers sometimes find their decisions mean trouble
Part 5: How
congressional pressure can sway land exchanges
Part 6: The
Future of Land Exchanges
Possible solutions to land-trade problems
Additional information contact:
Janine Blaeloch , Western Land Exchange Project blaeloch@westlx.org
Sanford Lewis, gnproject@earthlink.net
This page is maintained by
The Rivermouth Action Group Inc
as a community service.