1. This proposed act is a land developer's scheme to convert 1,320 acres of public land into private real estate. Snowbasin Ski Resort is trying to use Congress to obtain land through the legislative process that it has been unable to obtain through long-established administrative procedures.

2. The act is being sold to Congress as essential for Utah to successfully host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Two square miles of magnificent public mountain lands are not needed to stage the Olympic events.

3. Congress slighted Utahns by inviting only project proponents to Washington to present testimony on behalf of this land exchange bill.

4. The lands coveted by the developer are in public ownership because they were acquired by Congress and the City of Ogden and deeded to the Forest Service to rehabilitate ad protect a vital watershed.

5. This legislation contains an extraordinary exemption for part of the project from compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

6. It is corporate welfare in its most egregious form! It would override certain aspects of federal property valuation procedures.

7. This is a highly contentious issue, but it is being represented to Congress as non-controversial.

8. The proposed land exchange would lead to undesirable and unnecessary commercial development of valuable public lands.

9. Passage of the bills would set a terrible precedent.

While the Salt Lake Olympics Organizing Committee supports some exchange of public land, they have not specified that 1,320 acres is required. We do not know exactly how much land is necessary for these purposes, but the "Phase I Master Development Plan" submitted by Snowbasin to show the location of the proposed Olympic facilities comprises something on the order of 50 to 100 acres. In any event no one can seriously contend that two square miles is required.

• If Congress feels that a legislatively mandated land exchange is necessary for the 2002 Winter Olympics, it should make sure that only the land legitimately required for such purposes is included in the law.

• Passage of this bill would create a harmful precedent. Just because a ski resort wants to annex public lands for development is not reason that Congress should accommodate it. Why should Congress favor one resort over others.

• Any land exchange legislation should not set aside valuable oversight measures such as federal laws on property value appraisals or the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

• Congress should take no action until after a public hearing is held in Utah.

The first white settlers called Snow Basin paradise. But if Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Jim Hansen have their way, you can call it one developer's personal paradise. Now all but untrammeled, this unique and verdant valley would become an exclusive destination resort complete with swimming pools, a golf course and hundreds of townhouses and condominiums.

What is at stake is 1,320 acres of arguably the most beautiful land in northern Utah. From the quaint hamlet of Huntsville, hugging the shores of Pine View reservoir some 20 miles east of Ogden, a road winds west up the backside of the rugged Wasatch range. But as the road continues to wind up and around a bend, you find yourself on a ridge top, staring down into an almost hidden and breathtaking little valley. With the jagged Mount Ogden towering in the background, the sight is enough to take your breath away, just as it struck awe in the Mormon pioneers almost 150 years ago.

Snow Basin is now public land. but through an act of Congress, Hatch and Hansen want it to become the property of the Snowbasin ski resort, owned by Earl Holding, who also owns Sinclair Oil, Sun Valley ski resort and Little America Hotels, among other things.

Hatch and Hansen have told the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives that the land must become Holding's if the Olympic downhill ski races are to take place at Snowbasin in 2002. In fact, Hatch, Hansen and Holding brought Salt Lake City Olympic officials, like Frank Joklik, to Washington to help convince Congress to make the deal.

Presently Holding and his Sun Valley Company own three ski lifts on the mountain rising out of Snow Basin, perched on Forest Service land and leased as ski slopes. But the Snowbasin Master Plan intended blueprint for development put forth by Sun Valley Company outlines the development of 199 large single-family homes, 467 townhouses, 818 condominiums and 1,092 hotel rooms. All of this, plus a golf course, is apparently necessary for the 2002 Olympic ski races, if we are to believe Hatch, Hansen, Joklik and Holding.

By contract, Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon operates ski lifts on Forest Service lands, like Snowbasin, but its lodges and hotels and its base operations exist on only 45 acres.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Snowbasin resort build-out could represent billions of dollars on the real estate market, if Park City and Deer Valley are any measure. That fact, however, was not included in testimony before Congress.

But perhaps most surprising, if the Hatch and Hansen proposal becomes law, Holding's planned real estate development in Snow Basin would bypass federal environmental regulations outlined in the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA).

According to the proposal, 1,320 acres an area equivalent to two square miles at the base of the Snowbasin ski runs would be traded to Holding for parcels of acreage elsewhere. For comparison, two square miles in the area included in a rectangle drawn from 400 East in Salt Lake City to 300 West and from South Temple to 1300 South.

The acreage to be traded has not been completely decided, but Holding has suggested a number of parcels, including some steep slopes and grazing lands. The trade is still being negotiated.

Criticism of the land swap is only now growing from an atmosphere where critics were few. The Forest Service says the "community" presumably the Ogden area wants an expanded ski resort at Snow Basin, where only two small buildings now exist. Secondly, the land trade has been shrouded in the Olympic banner, something that is practically sacrosanct in Utah.