Landswap McCain's record of deceptions for the sake of campaign donations:McCain is instigating another landswap, even though he has already failed at the game. This time he gave the land swap a new description, but the usual deception is there. He calls turning a protected oak grove campground into the bottom of a pit--the size of a meteor crater "managing recreationsal resouces" and compromising an historical Native American site with destruction as "Protection of cultural resources. Here's his official wording for Senate Bill S.409 "A bill to secure Federal ownership and management of significant natural, scenic, and recreational resources, to provide for the protection of cultural resources, to facilitate the efficient extraction of mineral resources by authorizing and directing an exchange of Federal and non-Federal land, and for other purposes." The site is near Supreior, Arizona where McCain held a pep rally on behalf of the Oak Flat project last year. He announced that $1 billion dollars would go into the Federal coffers. After the meeting I was speaking with the operations manager and I mentioned McCain's claim, for "I have read the annual report of Kennecott, another Rio Tinto operation, and they did not pay any Federal taxes at all." The manager smiled and acknowledged that in fact the corporation would not pay any federal taxes. When they figure the money going into the tax coffers, they are figuring the income tax the workers will be paying. Following is an analysis from the New York Times, although it does not include the financial facts: How much will money will a foreign mining company make and how much will workers make? I did it for them: Jobs vs Profits Obama Admin, McCain Spar Over Ariz. Copper Mine BillBy PATRICK REIS and NYTGREENWIRE Published: June 18, 2009 The Obama administration yesterday said it could not endorse legislation that would make way for a copper mine in an Arizona national forest, reversing the Bush administration's support of the bill and outraging its Republican sponsors in the Senate. Forest Service Deputy Chief Joel Holtrop told the Senate Public Lands and Forests Subcommittee that the administration has serious concerns about S. 409, a proposed land swap which would allow Resolution Copper to build a mine on a piece of Arizona's Tonto National Forest in exchange for private lands. He said the administration had not finalized its opinion on the bill but would do so within weeks. While speaking on behalf of the Bush administration, Holtrop had twice expressed support for the exchange with only minor concerns. The switch outraged Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), as did the call for more delays. "I've been around long enough to know how this works," he said. "They know that if they delay long enough, [Resolution Copper] will walk away. The people of Arizona, the country and the world will suffer." He noted Resolution Copper—which is owned by subsidiaries of mining giants Rio Tinto PLC and BHP-Billiton PLC— has already spent more than $400 million studying the land and that its investors would not tolerate such expenditures without results indefinitely. Without the administration's support, McCain said, passing the bill would by "virtually impossible." The land exchange has been controversial since it was first promoted in the 109th Congress. Supporters say the private land offered in exchange is critical to protecting local ecology and history, while critics say Resolution is using low-value lands to buy an exemption from environmental reviews on areas that should remained protected as a national forest..... For entire story: New York Times Greenwire In the Tucson area, McCain wants public lands to be used for mine dumps and sulphuric acid leach pads.... even though the operation will destory hundreds of trees, including another oak grove! There are sure to be other reprocussions for the surrounding areas, including dust, water depletion and additional flooding. Does McCain include the manpower to cleanup the disasters in his job figures? Who will pay for the clean-ups? Again, McCain nor Inside Tucson Business give any facts and figures on the amount of profits that will go to a foreign mining company versus payroll and state-Federal money for clean-ups. From Inside Tucson Business: McCain: Rosemont mine needed in this economyMcCain told a group of about 10 community leaders before a town hall meeting Jan. 15 in Green Valley that jobs are important and that Arizona’s “real unemployment rate,” which takes into account under-employed workers and those who’ve not sought work in the last four weeks, is about 17 percent. Several in the group, including Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll and Stan Riddle, president of the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council, told McCain the mine is overwhelming unpopular in the Green Valley area for several reasons, including water. He later added, “For me to reject out-of-hand something that will employ 400 families, I’m not going to do that.” See entire story: Inside Tucson Business From: McClatchy Washington Bureau McCain pushed regulators for land swap, despite pledge Last updated: October 28, 2008 03:52:26 PM WASHINGTON — Years after he resurrected his political fortunes from the Keating Five savings and loan investigation, John McCain promoted an Arizona land swap that would've benefited a former mentor and partner of the scandal's central figure. The owners of the Spur Cross Ranch, a dramatic 2,154-acre tract of Sonoran desert just north of Phoenix, in the late 1990s sought to sell it to a developer who planned to build a premier golf course surrounded by 390 luxury homes. Nearby residents and environmentalists, however, wanted to preserve the area's unusual cacti, stone formations and hundreds of Hopi Indian tribal artifacts. After opposition surfaced, the developer sought McCain's help in forging a land swap with the U.S. Forest Service — a deal that also would benefit the owners of the ranch, including a company controlled by billionaire Carl H. Lindner Jr., an associate of S&L chief Charles H. Keating ...... Federal Election Commission records show that in the three years beginning in mid-1997, McCain's Senate campaign and his 2000 presidential campaign received more than $9,000 from Lindner, developer Lang and other backers of the deal. Several donations were made in close proximity to his Forest Service letters. His committees also got more than $25,000 from members of lobbying firms representing Great American's parent, the American Financial Group, on various issues. This year, the 89-year-old Lindner and his son, Carl H. Lindner III, have raised more than $300,000 for McCain's presidential campaign. Bounds said any suggestion that he was otherwise motivated is "without basis in fact" and called the campaign donations "irrelevant." After extensive hearings into the Keating Five affair, the Senate ethics committee cleared McCain of rules violations, but said that he showed "poor judgment" in leaning on the regulators to ease curbs on speculative investments by Keating's S&L. McCain had accepted $112,000 in campaign donations from Keating and his associates and went on family vacations to Keating's Bahamas hideaway. When the S&L collapsed, it cost taxpayers more than $3 billion...... See entire story: McClatchy Washington Bureau
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