By SAMANTHA YOUNG
PVT WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - A Colorado lawmaker has seized upon the Gulf Coast hurricanes as the latest good reason for the government to consider selling off vast land holdings in the West.

A bill by Rep. Thomas Tancredo, R-Colo., orders the Interior and Agriculture departments to put 15 percent of the public land they manage onto the open market.

Profits from the sales of millions of acres would be put into a special account to pay for expenses generated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as banked for future disasters.

Selling off Western land would be a priority. National parks and Indian lands would be excluded.

"Every year we acquire more and more land. It doesn't make any sense," Tancredo said.

"Sagebrush rebel" lawmakers from the West perennially advocate land sales, but the concept usually doesn't go far in Congress. In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Tancredo has recast the idea.

Federal land sales schemes "have become a recurring, symbolic gesture out here in the Western states," said Gregg Cawley, a political science professor at the University of Wyoming who wrote "Federal Land, Western Anger."

"There are still folks out here who think it's a good idea, so it's a way to buy some votes," Cawley said.

The idea of privatizing land has shown appeal to segments of the rural population who believe the government owns too much property in their backyard.

Federal land ownership tops 654 million acres, most of it in the 12 Western states. In Nevada, Bureau of Land Management figures show the government manages 85 percent of the state. In Nye County, the largest of Nevada's 17 counties at more than 18,000 square miles, roughly one federal bureaucracy or another manages 98 percent of the land.

But proposals for large-scale land sales have not progressed in Congress, where some lawmakers have expressed opposition over government selling off the nation's "national heritage."

"This is a manifestation of the constant simmering resentment western politicians have about the amount of federal land we have in protection," said Janine Blaelock, director of the Western Lands Project, a public land advocacy group.

"It's our heritage, not a savings account that you start drawing from," Blaelock said.

Tancredo said he is not looking to sell off national parks - which is forbidden in his bill - but to find a way to dispose of an estimated 5.1 million acres of land that the government has declared vacant.

Based on a Department of Agriculture study of farm land values, Tancredo estimates the government could cash in as much as $148 billion if land fetched the national average price.

"On paper it looks good," Cawley agreed. But, he said, "One of the problems with it is who wants to buy the land?"

Ranchers, energy and timber interests would have little to gain from buying land they now mine for little payout to the government in fees and royalties, Cawley said. Also, rural communities lack the financial capital to expand, he said.

Tancredo said the market should decide who gets the land.

"I'm not sure who would buy it but lets put it up for sale and lets see," Tancredo said.

Doug McMurdo contributed to this report.