Senator HECHT. Thank you very much.

George Swallow. George, good to see you here. You are a great Nevadan. You have contributed a lot to our State.

STATEMENT OF GEORGE N. SWALLOW, BLUE ENERGY

RESOURCES, INC., AND INTERMOUNTAIN RANGES, LTD.

Mr. SWALLOW. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I want to pay special tribute to the people who represent Nevada here in the Senate and the House. I am going to deviate from my written statement to some extent.

Senator HECHT. Your entire statement will be a part of the record, George.

Mr. SWALLOW. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I wish to correct a few statements that have been made here today. For example, it has appeared from the testimony that most of the people in the State of Nevada are in favor of this Great Basin National Park. In White Pine County, where this park is located, polls have been taken of 2,500 people, in excess of one-third of the people in the county, and we have this documented. Ten percent only are in favor of the park.

Sometimes national polls are taken on the basis of only 2,000 people. Now we have the signatures here available to this committee to verify this.

Another thing that I wish to call to your attention, at the Republican State Convention this year there was a resolution in favor of endorsing the Great Basin National Park. This resolution was voted down at that convention. I am not sure that the people endorsing this Great Basin National Park are not reducing the standards for national parks.

When the first park was created in Wyoming and two sister States, the same words were used at that time: a crown jewel, pristine wilderness, and they have been very successful. At this time, all these people supporting this park might well form a society they call a society of mediocrity. We have bristlecone pines on practically every mountain range in Nevada, from the eastern mountains to the Pacific, and this is not a rare thing.

Not only that, the Forest Service is doing a tremendous job in there of multiple-use management. It is probably the best example of multiple-use management in the entire United States. Additionally, let us look at it from another perspective. I do not know how much more we can afford to put in a preservation status.

At the present time the Park Service is administering approximately 77 million acres. Now this is not a small percentage of the Nation by any means, and it is continuing. There is no question but what when this is put into a park it will expand. That has been evidenced from the testimony you just heard a few minutes ago. This will be a continuing fight with the owner.

In 1964 the cost of administering the Park Service was about $42 million. The total receipts were less than $6 million. In 1986 now they are asking for an appropriation of 845—

Senator HECHT. George, you will have to summarize. Your time

Mr. SWALLOW. If this continues at this same rate for the next 21 years, we are talking $17 billion.

There is no question but what the mining is going to be wiped out, the livestock wiped out, and these statements about the mining, about the great supplies of beryllium, this is a great mineral and it is going to be needed in the defense of this Nation in the future. The only reason more is not being used now is because it is in short supply.

I know these are conflicting statements, but we have the documentation to back this up. Before this park proceeds any farther, there should be an objective study made of what this is going to do to the Nation.

Senator HECHT. I thank you very much. As I say, your entire statement which is comprehensive and I will be anxious to study it, George, will be in the record. Thank you for coming.

[The prepared statement of Mr. Swallow follows:]

MR. CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE SENATE PUBLIC LAND SUBCOMMITTEE ENERGY NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:

NEVADA

MY NAME IS GEORGE N. SWALLOW. I LIVE AT 509 CEDAR STREET, ELY, 89301.

I AM REPRESENTING BLUE ENERGY RESOURCES, INC., AND INTERMOUNTAIN RANCHES, LTD., FIRST, I WANT TO TAKE TIME FROM MY PRECIOUS 5 MINUTES ALOTTED TO TELL YOU THAT NEVADA IS PROUD OF OUR CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION SENATOR PAUL LAXALT, SENATOR CHIC, HECHT AND CONGRESSMAN BARBARA VUCANOVICH. FOR MANY YEARS WE HAVE WORKED AND SUPPORTED THESE FINE PEOPLE AND WE PLAN TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING THESE PEOPLE IN THE FUTURE.

WHEN THE ACT ENTITLED "AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES" WAS ENACTED INTO LAW ON AUGUST 26, 1916, ONE OF THE MAIN PURPOSES WAS TO PRESERVE AND PROTECT AREAS INCLUDED IN NATIONAL PARKS. THE PROPOSED GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK OF 44,000 ACRES DOES NOT NEED THIS TYPE OF PROTECTION TODAY. THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE, ALONG WITH PRIVATE ENTERPRISE HAS DONE A MAGNIFICENT JOB IN PROTECTING AND PRESERVING THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM IN THIS AREA.

IF WE DON'T START PRESERVING THE FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM, OUR GREAT COUNTRY WILL BECOME WEAKER AND WEAKER BY THE DAY. PLEASE PERMIT ME TO MAKE A FEW STATEMENTS THAT SHOW HOW DANGEROUS THE PRESENT COURSE ACTUALLY IS.

THE FIRST NATIONAL PARK IN 1872 STARTED WITH 2,219,823 ACRES AND INCLUDED PART OF 3 STATES: IDAHO, MONTANA AND WYOMING. IN 1986 THE TOTAL ACREAGE UNDER THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE IS 77,285,815 ACRES.

THE APPETITE OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE FOR THE ACQUISITION OF NEW PARKS IS BECOMMING GREATER EACH YEAR. IT IS A TRAGIC STORY, IT IS A HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND ITS MANY AGENCIES FORCING RURAL PEOPLE OFF THE LAND THEY HAVE TILLED OR OTHERWISE HELD FOR GENERATIONS.

WE SHOULD STOP ESTABLISHING "EGOPOLITICAL PARKS" TO BENEFIT CONGRESSMEN ON THEIR HOME TURF. WE SHOULD ALLOW THE STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS TO CONTROL PARKS WHICH ARE OF DUBIOUS "NATIONAL CHARACTER" AND KEEP THE DECISION MAKING ON A LOCAL LEVEL, FOR EXAMPLE; THE PROPONENTS OF THE GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK NAMELY THE SIERRA CLUB AND THE WHITE PINE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE HAS AND IS DISSEMINATING INFORMATION ALL OVER THE STATE OF NEVADA AND NATIONALLY TO THE EFFECT THAT THE MAJORITY OF THE LOCAL PEOPLE WANT A NATIONAL PARK. THESE STATEMENTS ARE NOT FACTUAL, IN FACT, THESE STATEMENTS ARE FRAUDULANT STATEMENTS. AS PROOF OF THIS, FREE ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATES, INC., FOR A FEW MONTHS NOW HAVE CIRCULATED PEITITIONS WITH RESPECT TO THE GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK.

OUT

TO DATE APPROXIMATELY 2500 SIGNATURES HAVE BEEN OBTAINED. OF THE TOTAL ONLY 5% 10% ARE IN FAVOR OF THE GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK. WE HAVE COPIES OF THESE PETITIONS HERE TODAY VERIFYING MY STATEMENT.

ANOTHER STRONG INDICATION OF HOW THE PEOPLE IN THE STATE OF NEVADA FEEL ABOUT A NATIONAL PARK WAS SHOWN AT THE REBPULICAN STATE CONVENTION HELD IN WINNEMUCCA, NEVADA ON MAY 9 10, 1986. AT THIS REPUBLICAN STATE CONVENTION THE MEMBERS AT THIS CONVENTION VOTED DOWN A RESOLUTION IN FAVOR OF THE GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK.

THE WHITE PINE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND OTHER PROPONENTS ARE STATING THAT THERE ARE NO MINERALS OF ANY SUBSTANCE ON THE SNAKE RANGE AND THEY USE AS EVIDENCE A LETTER WHICH THEY HAVE PRODUCED MANY TIMES FROM FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, BOB BROADBENT. I CALL YOU ATTENTION TO A REPORT OF FORD, BACON & DAVIS, DATED MAY, 1986 OF WHICH ALL OF YOU HAVE A COPY FROM MR. AL BURANEK AS PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL TREASURE MINES AND MT. WHEELER MINES, AS PART OF HIS STATEMENT TODAY, ALSO PLEASE REFER TO COPY OF THE LETTER IN MR. BURANEK'S STATEMENT FROM THE GEOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES. AS YOU WILL NOTE, THIS PLACES THE MINERAL DEPOSITS OF THIS MOUNTAIN IN A WORLD CLASS. AS PART OF MY STATEMENT, I HAVE FURNISHED A MAP SHOWING THE VARIOUS MINING CLAIMS IN COLOR OF 18 INDIVIDUAL OWNERS. THIS IS FOUND ATTACHED AS EXHIBIT "B".

FREE ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATES, INC., MADE AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE GREAT BASIN NATIONAL PARK PROPOSAL AS DELINEATED IN H.R. 3302. SINCE THAT TIME THE BOUNDARIES OF THE PROPOSED PARK HAVE CHANGED SIG NIFICANTLY IN SUBSEQUENT BILLS IN BOTH THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE. WE HAVE PREPARED A SUMMARY AND UPDATE. THIS STUDY POINTS OUT THAT FROM AN ECONOMIC STAND POINT THE VALUE OF THE PARK WILL BE INSIGNIFICANT COMPARED TO THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS THAT ARE AND CAN BE PRODUCED UNDER THE MULTIPLE USE SYSTEM. PLEASE REFER TO THIS ECONOMIC ANALYSIS CONTAINED IN MY STATEMENT ATTACHED AS EXHIBIT "C".

THE 44,000 ACRE PARK WILL STOP THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SKI AND YEAR ROUND RECREATION DEVELOPMENT. THIS DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN PROJECTED WITH SNOW MAKING EQUIPMENT AND IS ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE. IN ORDER TO PERMIT A SKI AND YEAR ROUND DEVELOPMENT, IT WOULD BE NECESSARY TO ELIMINATE THE FOLLOWING LAND FROM THE 44,000 ACRE PARK: