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Senator Hecht. Thank you very much. 

 Dave Hornbeck, please. 



STATEMENT OF DAVID A. HORNBECK, TOIYABE CHAPTER OF 

 THE SIERRA CLUB, RENO, NV 



Mr. Hornbeck. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Hecht, and 

 also any other Members of the Subcommittee. 



I thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the Sierra 

 Club in expressing our views in regard to S. 854. 



My name is Dave Hornbeck. I am a native Nevadan and an at- 

 torney from Reno. However, I speak today as a member of the 

 Sierra Club and also a member of the Executive Committee of the 

 Toiyabe Chapter, which includes all of Nevada and some 2,200 

 members in Nevada and eastern California. 



We have been following this issue for some time and are quite 

 concerned about it. 



Our initial concerns were three, and they still remain our signifi- 

 cant concerns. 



First are the environmental impacts that this would have, par- 

 ticularly on the critical desert tortoise habitat that has been more 

 adequately explained just a moment ago. 



Obviously the tortoise is in trouble, and the Coyote Springs 

 Valley is an important area for the habitat of the tortoise, which 

 would apparently and very likely be lost, despite the assurances of 

 a preserve limited to 20 years, which, of course, is much shorter 

 than the millions of years the tortoise has already been here. 



The second point is that we question whether or not the public 

 interest is actually served by the loss of this relatively large 80- 

 some square miles of Nevada in exchange for a very small area of 

 a few square miles in Florida, an area involving some old tomato 

 farms. Whether or not this in itself is valuable land is question- 

 able. But we are particularly concerned about the exchange ratio 

 being based on what we believe are inadequate appraisals, despite 

 what the Secretary or the Assistant Secretary just said. 



There is some property that sold just across the road from the 

 area appraised at $45 an acre, which sold for approximately $400 

 an acre, within a few days of the announcement of this legislation. 



That raises some questions as to whether or not it is worth really 

 only $45 an acre. Perhaps if it is only for grazing and not for devel- 

 opment of industrial sites, that might be so. 



Senator Hecht. I would ask you to give us any information that 

 you have on that for the record. You will have two weeks to do so. 

 The record will remain open. 



Mr. Hornbeck. Certainly. We have copies of the deed and other 

 papers. 



Thirdly, our third major concern, and probably the most impor- 

 tant, is the rather irregular process which has been used in the ap- 

 proach to this transaction by the advocates of it, particularly the 

 apparent, deliberate attempt to circumvent the National Environ- 

 mental Policy Act, or at least the principles behind it, by the ap- 

 proach used. That is. Aerojet decided on the land that they wanted, 

 and then went after it, bypassing the Nevada BLM offices and 

 going directly to Washington, as I understand it, and then sought 



