For folks who enjoy birding on Roosevelt Island in DC - be aware, the Chairman of the House Resources Committee, Rep. Pombo, has introduced a 285 Bill that among other things, proposes selling off National Parks that recieve fewer than 10,000 visitors per year.  In the bill they suggest selling off Roosevelt Island to developers.  Say goodbye to the nesting Ospreys  wintering Bald Eagles if this goes through.

See the news clip I lifted in part below. 

Denise Ryan
Cheverly, MD

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Pombo proposes selling 15 parks, expanding offshore leases, drilling ANWR
<http://www.eenews.net/Greenwire/Backissues/092305bn/092305bn.htm#1> 
E&E Daily, September 26, 2005, By Ben Geman, Dan Berman and Allison A. Freeman 
 
Draft House Resources Committee legislation would put 15 national parks up for sale, allow offshore oil and gas drilling in now-restricted waters and open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to petroleum exploration, according to a copy of the measure obtained by E&E Daily. 

A section of the 285-page bill <http://www.eenews.net/EEDaily/Backissues/images/092305dr2.pdf> addressing outer continental shelf drilling -- called the "offshore state options act of 2005" -- would allow states to petition for withdrawal from coastal leasing bans and in return receive substantial revenues from royalties. The bill also includes options for natural gas only leasing. The chairman of the Resources panel, California Republican Richard Pombo, is a vocal advocate of increasing domestic energy production.  

The legislation would sell Theodore Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River, and 15 other National Park Service properties from California to Massachusetts. 

The draft proposes removing the 91-acre Theodore Roosevelt Island <http://www.nps.gov/this/> from the park system and selling it to commercial or residential developers, as well as requiring land be made available for a vehicle bridge to the George Washington Memorial Parkway. The island is in the Potomac River between Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Va. 
The draft proposes selling 15 parks "for energy or commercial development" if they receive fewer than 10,000 visitors a year. They are: 
·	Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument, Texas. 
·	Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, Alaska. 
·	Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Alaska. 
·	Cape Krusenstern National Monument, Alaska. 
·	Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site, California. 
·	Fort Bowie National Historic Site, Arizona. 
·	Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Massachusetts. 
·	Kobuk Valley National Park, Alaska. 
·	Lake Clark National Park, Alaska. 
·	Mary McLeod Bethune Council House, Washington, D.C. 
·	Minute Man Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota. 
·	Noatak National Preserve, Alaska. 
·	Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Monument, Pennsylvania. 
·	Thomas Stone National Historic Site, Maryland. 
·	Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska. 
Other revenue-raising proposals include mandated sales of advertisements on official Park Service maps and guides and on the inside and outside of all NPS buses, shuttles, vans, trams and passenger ferries. The Interior Department would also be required to solicit and sell commercial sponsorship of park visitors and education centers, museums, trails, auditoriums and theaters. An exception would be made for those already named after individuals. 
The scope of the legislation shocked park advocates. "I have no idea what they could be thinking putting together a proposal this extreme," said Craig Obey of the National Park Conservation Association. "There are certain people who will never be satisfied until you can sell advertisements and reap commercial profit from the national parks and this is that kind of proposal."