Congress is poised to approve a bogus land deal that could line one man’s pockets with gold at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer. A Utah businessman wants to swap his cheap land for prime acres owned by the taxpayer in order to build Olympic venues that aren’t even needed. If the Senate approves the Snowbasin Land Exchange Act, Team Taxpayer will end up the loser.

The winner will be wealthy Earl Holding, owner of a ski resort in Utah’s Snowbasin valley. Holding would very much like to own and develop the U.S. Forest Service lands in and around Snowbasin, which happens to be one of the sites for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Holding’s plans for the valley include the development of a year-round golf and ski resort, with 450 townhouses, 800 condos and 1,100 hotel rooms.

Holding, who has been trying to get his hands on the land for years, volunteered to pay for construction of the Olympic venue on the condition that he be given the site and surrounding lands after the games. His plan is to exchange land that he has acquired over the last seven years for the Snowbasin land.

Holding has been unable to make a swap through regular Forest Service channels because the land he offers is of lower value than the land he wants. His prospects changed this year when Rep. James Hansen (R-UT) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) sponsored the Snowbasin Land Exchange Act, which would allow Holding to exchange 4,100 acres of land scattered around Utah for the 1,320 acres at Snowbasin.

What the bill does not mention is that the land Holding is offering has little development potential and is not high on the Forest Service’s wish list. It averages from $50 to $1000 an acre in value. The Snowbasin land on the other hand is considered prime Forest Service real estate and has been compared in development potential to other local land valued at $100,000 to $500,000 an acre.

In addition, a member of the Olympic Committee’s site inspection team publicly stated that no new land is needed to hold the Olympic ski races.

The Snowbasin Act was originally included in the House Omnibus Parks bill. When the bill was threatened with presidential veto, lawmakers removed Snowbasin by attaching it to the politically popular Sterling Forest Act. Sterling passed with Snowbasin attached. It is likely that a similar scenario may occur in the Senate. All that will remain will be for Holding to climb the podium and accept his prize.

 

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