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In conclusion, the Sierra Club is not opposed to land exchanges 

 which benefit Nevada's environment. Jeff Van Ee , an environmentalist 

 and a Sierra Club member from southern Nevada, promoted and helped enact 

 into law the Burton-Santini Act which provides for the sale of public 

 lands in Las Vegas to fund the purchase of environmentally sensitive 

 private lands at Lake Tahoe . If Nevada public lands are to be 

 sacrificed for the advantage of a private corporation, then the benefits 

 of the exchange should also include the acquisition of environmentally 

 sensitive lands, in Nevada . 



We have opposed seizures of Nevada's public lands by the military, 

 such as occurred on the Groom Range, without due process and compliance 

 with NEPA, including consideration of alternatives and mitigation 

 measures suggested by the public. Likewise, we are opposed to this 

 effective seizure of environmentally sensitive public lands in Nevada by 

 a private defense industry contractor in exchange for lands of little 

 environmental or other value in Florida. 



In this precedent-setting interstate land exchange, involving the 

 lost of approximately 80 square miles of public lands in Nevada for a 

 few square miles in Florida, Congress is being asked to abandon the 

 deliberate and sound policy of public environmental review embodied in 

 the National Environmental Policy Act. We urge this Subcommittee to 



