Posted on 02/17/2005 1:09:28 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has endorsed a North Coast wilderness bill that swiftly cleared a Senate committee Wednesday, and proponents said they hope the legislation has the momentum to be enacted into law. The legislation sponsored by California Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, both Democrats, and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, in the House, would designate more than 300,000 acres of federal lands as protected wilderness.
"This bill protects the natural beauty that is at the heart of California's identity," Boxer said of the measure.
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Last year, the legislation was approved by the Senate but died in the House, where it never budged in the House Resources Committee despite a pledge by the panel's chairman, Republican Rep. Richard Pombo of Tracy, that it would get a hearing.
Mike Christman, secretary for resources in the Schwarzenegger administration, said in a Feb. 14 letter to Pombo that the Resources Committee should "act on this bipartisan legislative measure at its earliest convenience."
"The state of California strongly supports this proposed legislation," Christman said.
In an interview, Thompson said he and Pombo discussed scheduling House hearings on the bill, and he is hopeful they will be held soon.
"There will be some opposition to this bill," Thompson said. "There are some folks who just don't believe in wilderness bills."
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(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
fyi
More land for Pot Farms.
And I thought California's natural beauty was to be found on the beaches in skimpy bikinis....
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