Sinclair Oil Corp. This would give Holding 1,320 acres near his Snowbasin ski resort, one of the sites for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Hatch succeeded in getting the deal inserted as an amendment to the parks bill, despite complaints by conservation groups that the land would not be subject to certain environmental laws. But Holding is a generous donor. Oil and gas interests have been trying to open up the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to exploration. The way a House-offered provision in the parks bill is written, says the NRDC, this may soon be possible.
Environmentalists protest the measure because of the potential danger to rare species.
The provision, which sets up a land exchange with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, would also open up the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Recently, however, criminals have been petitioning the courts, not the ATF, to review their gun requests. Money in Politics Alert Vol.