Big Companies Landing Sweet Deals at Your Expense

The Bush administration -- in an effort to put some money into the national treasury -- has sold mining rights to 155 acres of taxpayer owned land. The land is rich in molybdenum -- used to make steel and lubricants.

And what did taxpayers get for these hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of molybdenum? A mere $900.

Big corporations can buy up taxpayer owned, mineral rich land for just $5.00 an acre. It's because of an 1872 law that's still on the books.

Taxpayers have lost a ton of money over it over the years. Sometimes, companies never mine the land. They develop it and sell it at huge profits -- at taxpayer expense:

• Phoenix, Arizona: 61 acres sold for $153 in 1970 -- sold for $400,000 as the site of a luxury hotel
• Keystone Ski Resort: 160 acres sold for $5 an acre or less, sold for $11,000 an acre in 1989

But the Bush administration is trying to rush through 200 more applications that aim to sell taxpayer owned land for pennies on the dollar:

• Roosevelt Lake, Arizona: 3,000 acres valued at $85 million for just $8,500
• Inyo National Forrest, Callifornia: 995 acres valued at $7.5 million for just $3,100
• Mojave National Preserve, California (pictured above): 67 acres worth $1 million for $2,300
• Mount Baker National Forest, Washington: 100 acres worth $937,000 for $470

The Bush administration is rushing to push through applications to sell 71 square miles of land for just $130,000 total. The actual value of the land is closer to $178 million. (AP)