davedlg

Yes. IIRC Fairly substantial ones .

I am not against opening up some of the land to responsible mining. However, this goes further then simply changing the 1994 law. Prior to 1994, when a mining company patented a piece of land, they did not purchase the land from the federal government, they simply got the rights to mine the land. This law allows for the purchase of the land from the government - big difference there. Once a company (or an indivdual) owns a piece of land, they can do with it what they please - even if they want to build condos, a summer home, or a walmart. Previouslly, the land would remain the property of the federal government and there were restrictions on what the mining company could do with the land.

A 1,065 foot antenna collapsed in south-central nebraska following a plane crash yesterday http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECTID=d8155cdd-0abe-421a-004d-6baedc653c31&TEMPLATEID=0c76dce6-ac1f-02d8-0047-c589c01ca7bf ATLANTA, Neb. (AP) - A single-engine airplane that crashed in south-central Nebraska was bound from Denver to Illinois, federal aviation officials said Monday. Two adults and a child died after the plane struck a broadcast tower in Phelps County on Sunday. Their identities have not been released. The Federal Aviation Administration's preliminary report said that the 1968 Piper PA-28-140 was flying from Denver to Morris, Ill. The plane is registered to Daniel Walker of Morris, according to FAA records. Phelps County Attorney Timothy Hoeft did not immediately return a message left at his office Monday. The crash occurred at 10:48 a.m. Sunday. The plane hit a broadcast tower owned by Nebraska Educational Radio and Television. No injuries were reported to people on the ground. Phelps County Sheriff Tom Nutt said the plane crashed into a wheat field about 200 yards from the tower, which is situated off U.S. Highway 6. The 1,065-foot tower landed on a building that houses broadcast equipment, causing roof damage, Nutt said. The building contents did not appear to be damaged, Nutt said. Witnesses said debris was scattered over two farm fields. It was unclear whether weather was a factor in the crash. Rain and high winds were reported in the area at the time. Atlanta is seven miles southwest of Holdrege. The tower carries public radio and television programming to a large portion of central Nebraska. Over-the-air service has been knocked out, NET general manager Rod Bates said. "We deeply regret the loss of life we understand resulted from this terrible accident," Bates said. "Any disruption of service caused by this accident pales in comparison to this loss of life. Our crews are working to assess the level of damage and will develop a plan to provide at least limited service as soon as possible. We will let our listeners and viewers know more as soon as we have additional information." Bates said the tower's safety lighting was working properly. He said a site manager was at the tower shortly before the crash and reported no problems. The tower's last FAA inspection was less than two years ago, when NET was making its federally mandated conversion from analog to digital broadcasting, Bates said. He said it would take at least six months for a new tower to be erected. Some over-the-air viewers and listeners are able to receive NET television and radio signals from transmitters in Hastings and North Platte, Bates said. People with cable or satellite TV had no disruption, Bates said.

The house passed their budget bill and the senate passed their own bill. Both the house and senate will appoint a confrence comittee to hammer out the details of the final budget bill. If I understand correctly, whatever they hammer out becomes law. We are only one step away from this happening.

Bingo. Unfortunatly our lawmakers have already voted for it. The house passed these provisions by a two vote margin. Since it is part of the budget bill, it was completely overshadowed by "bigger issues." It never would have made it through otherwise. Now it is in the hands of the house-senate confrence commitee. They have the final say as to whether it makes it into law. It will not be voted on again.

It's not my own personal use, it is everyone's use. You really don't see the difference between land being open to use by the public and land being sold to developers and miners, surrounded with barbed wire and "No Tresspassing" signs and developed as they see fit??

Those turnvanes look great! They look exactly how I thought they would!

My point is not the environmental impact of the proposed changes (that's a whole other can o' worms). My point is these lands, which are now available to the public for a wide variety of recreation are going to be sold and no longer be available.

Vast federal lands are what make this country special. All throughout the west, there are large areas of federal lands open for hiking, 4wd roads, rock climbing, fishing and hunting, and wilderness....now they are all "for sale." Once they are sold, they are no longer open to the public. How is this right? I am not nessecarily aginst drilling up north anyway, but I am not going to argue that here.

I am getting all of my information on the subject from the mining law professor at the University of Colorado. The bill IS written in such a way that land patented for mining becomes private property - the stakeholder in the mining claim will own the land and be able to do whatever they want with it. This is not. solely mineral rights. BIG difference here. By staking a claim and paying for it, the land becomes the property of the miner...and they don't even have to prove mineral worth. Here's an LA times article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lands16nov16,0,1529178.story?coll=la-home-local

If they're selling them for a thousand bucks an acre, I know a couple acres I'll buy personally. If the jumpers own them, the government could never shut them down. If the government owns them, the government can shut them down whenever they want. I'm not so sure this is a bad thing. You better stake your "mining claim" as soon as the bill clears the confrence commitee then. I can't fathom what it would be like to go to some of my favorite places on BLM and national forest land and find them now private property and closed to the public

I am not a BASE jumper, but I know enough to know that some of the very best legal BASE exit points lay on BLM land. A provision in the house budget reconcilation bill recently passed by two votes allows for the private purchase of federal lands for mining purposes. Don't be fooled though, once the land has been purchased for "mining" the new landowner can do whatever they want to with the land....build houses, condos, or whatever they want. How would you like to see your favorite legal exit point closed because it was bought from the government for $1000/acre and used to build a million-dollar vacation home? The bill is now in the hands of the house-senate confrence commitee. It can be stopped there. If you feel this is important please take a moment to write your senators and representative to voice your opposition to the provisions. http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/publiclands_senate

This is my first post in SC...I usually stay as far away from this forum as possible, because I really don't care to argue about all the political BS that goes on in here. However, something is happening right now that is too important to not post. The Budget reconciliation bill recently approved by a two vote margin by the US house of representatives contains a little-publicised provision to update mining law. This provision litterally allows for the private purchase of federal lands at $1000/acre for "mining purposes". However, the law can easily be turned around by land developers to buy the land and develop it as they see fit. This includes all national forests, BLM lands and other open spaces owned by the federal government. These are our trails, our rivers, our mountains, and our BASE exit points just to name a few. This bill is so much more dangerous then the less-publicised senate ANWAR provisions... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/selling_mining_lands http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1132199726277010.xml&coll=7 http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_3254821 The bill is now in the hands of the house-senate confrence comitee. If you believe in this cause, please take a minute to write your senators and representative and voice your opinion. http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/publiclands_senate

65 degrees and sunny in Colorado today. Lots of snow and skiing is only an hour away though.

I'm out as a definatly. I might still drop by though. I'll see where the road takes me. - Definitely: alanab ballsack bbarnhouse benforde catfishhunter chutem CieloDiosa Deuce dgskydive Evelyn Ffejdraga Gia GQ_jumper grue helldog JudyJ jumper03 LouDiamond mattjw916 mcneill79 monkycndo mustard NWFlyer outlawphx padraigbrowne pfraser psipike02 Remster (and the soon to be stolen wife) Karen rocket Skratch skreamer (but no spotting!) Skykittykat Skylord tdog The111 TheGreekOne vdschoor - need a ride Dec. 26th, 6:15PM arrival Viking wildcard451 Zenister - Likely: AggieDave CanuckinUSA efs4ever Karrigirl Kid Icarus livendive orchid Redassskychic fireflyr(if my spine heals.) - Maybe: davedlg ltdiver jasonRose johnny1488 psipike02 rasmack selbbub78 Vanillaskygirl (tiny chance...crossing fingers)

That looks a lot like the "switchblades" used in the most recent Bond film. There is a thread on here somewhere about them.

Too late. Take a close look at the ground in this picture

The only "important things" left are the turning vanes in the basement, the variable frequency drives and the inlet contractor. Why are they wasting so much time making it look pretty??

I just stopped by the site. Things are looking very good. There is a lot of work going on. We almost have a wind tunnel!! Here are the pics.

Peanut oil CAN be used to make biodiesel, however they generally avoid using it for allergenic reasons. Almost all modern automotive diesel engines can run 100% biodiesel with little or no modification. Some diesel fuel systems have several elastomer components in their fuel hoses and fuel pump gasket seals that may need to be replaced to run 100% biodiesel. www.biodiesel.org

Make BioDiesel out of it.

1. A place to eat. - Yup. Lots of that. Brewery Bar III (great mexican food) is literally in the shadow of the tunnel, Bennigans is a few hundred feet away, and there are tons of other places within very easy walking distance 2. A hotel - Yup. There is one right across the road. I think it's called extended stay america or something like that. There is a mariott in the area too. 3. A store to buy blank DVDs, water, etc. -There is a best buy across the highway. I don't think there is a grocery store in the area though. 4. A chocolatier - I am sure there is one in the Park Meadows mall across the highway. edited to add: here is a complete list of everything in the entertainment district. Everything on this list is within easy walking distance.

Does that mean you are going to change your screen name?

Well, none of the money ever went into circulation. A small fraction of it was later found in the woods near where he would have landed several years ago though.

A few weeks ago, I was rafting out in Utah and we saw a pair of bald eagles perched high above the river at the cliffline. We floated past them in awe. About 15 minutes later, they came flying down the river canyon about 30 feet over our heads. It was an amazing sight.