WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., said Tuesday that in a shuffle of paperwork she accidentally might have signed a document that listed her as cosponsor of a bill that would sell off millions of acres of public lands in the West to raise money for hurricane relief.

The bill would require the federal government to quickly sell off 15 percent of national forest lands and 15 percent of lands managed by Interior Department agencies, except national parks, to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina and other disaster relief.

On Monday, Cubin said she was mistakenly listed as a cosponsor, but it had been unclear how her name came to be on the bill. Although she had discussed the bill with its author, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., Cubin decided it was a bad idea and had no intention of cosponsoring it, her spokesman said.

"If (her signature is there), we can only surmise that what happened is the wrong piece of paper got signed at a weekly Members' lunch meeting when a number of bills and letters get passed around to sign while speakers are giving their presentations," Cubin spokesman Joe Milczewski said.

"She meant to sign something else. She didn't mean to cosponsor this bill - in fact, she opposes it - and her name is being removed," he added. "Twenty pieces of legislation were introduced that day alone. A mistake was apparently made that day."

Tancredo introduced the bill on Sept. 21 with a dozen cosponsors named on it, including Cubin. A Tancredo spokesman said his office has Cubin's signature on the paperwork to list her as a cosponsor.

In 2005, Cubin introduced a total of 22 bills herself and cosponsored another 70 bills or resolutions.

The Tancredo bill drew fire from both Cubin's Democratic challenger, Gary Trauner, and from Wyoming environmental groups. And the bill had generated so much controversy for another cosponsor, U.S. Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, R-Idaho, that he withdrew his support last week and said he was "wrong" for having backed the measure.

The bill would require the agriculture secretary to select 15 percent of all lands included in the national forest system and begin selling them to the public by Oct. 1. By the same date, the interior secretary would have to identify and begin public sale of 15 percent of lands managed by Interior Department agencies, excluding national parks and lands held for Indian tribes.

That could include acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The bill does not lay out any criteria whatsoever for choosing which land to sell, leaving the choice entirely to the two secretaries. They would have to "place an emphasis" on choosing land in states where the federal government owns more than 15 percent of the total acreage.

The bill would also put a moratorium on federal land purchases until all the land identified by the secretaries is sold, unless Congress passes a specific exemption.

All proceeds from the sales would be deposited in the Disaster Response and Relief Fund and would be used toward the cost of responding to a natural disaster or terrorist attack in areas where the president has made a disaster declaration.

Tancredo believes the federal government should transfer its land holdings to the private sector, citing a demand for farm and ranchland.

If the lands were sold for the national average value of farm and ranchland in the U.S., which is $1,510 per acre, the sale would generate $148 billion, Tancredo said. He added that if the land were sold for the least expensive average state price, New Mexico's at $290 per acre, it would generate almost $19 billion.