Its once-thunderous opposition now grown faint, the California Desert Protection Act easily passed a House committee Wednesday, 28 to 14, on its way to a floor vote, probably this summer.
The huge land measure cleared the Senate on April 13, a big legislative victory for first-term Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who had crippled opposition by amending the bill to address the specific complaints of groups ranging from ranchers to motorcyclists.With Senate passage, the 8-year-old desert bill is all but certain to become law this year.
The largest such measure in the history of the continental United States, the bill would create three new national parks - the Joshua Tree, Death Valley and East Mojave - in the southeast part of the state.
It would cover 9 million acres in all, including 6.34 million acres of new wilderness, the most stringent level of federal protection, which forbids all vehicular access. In all, vehicle access would be forbidden in 7.75 million acres.
Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said he will seek a floor vote "as soon as possible" and repeated his declaration that the desert bill "is our highest priority."
The bill's chief House opponent, Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., blasted the measure as "public policymaking at its worst." Lewis cited polls showing that 60 percent of people in the state know little or nothing about the desert bill.
The House version is very similar to Feinstein's bill. The major change made Wednesday was to add back all but 40,000 acres of the 276,000-acre Lanfair Valley in the East Mojave, which had been removed by the Senate's land panel.
"We're looking forward to celebrating passage before the end of the year," said Marty Hayden, a Sierra Club lobbyist.