On May 19, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published an innocent-looking notice in the Federal Register. It was like a birth announcement in a way, heralding the arrival of the President’s new baby, the American Heritage Rivers Initiative. The first public glimpse of this, his latest land-grab scheme, came during the State of the Union address when the President unveiled his plan to designate 10 American Heritage Rivers in 1997. The designations, he said, would "help communities alongside them revitalize their waterfronts and clean up pollution, proving once again that we can grow the economy as we protect the environment." Americans weren’t fooled. It was deja vu.

Last year, with the stroke of his pen, the President had simply taken Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante as a National Monument. Neither the majority of elected officials nor the people whose assets were instantly frozen had any advance warning of the seizure. Who would have seen it coming? The President of the United States does not just fly in and take people’s property. Well, OK, now we know this President does, but then he does a lot of things that would make our forefathers shudder.

Earlier, Congress tried to pass the National Heritage Areas Act, which was abandoned when it became clear that passage would have to be over the furious objection of the American people. There it was, though, in black and white, the Federal Register notice. Unfazed by the will of the people, the President was back again. This time, though, he would leave Congress out and bypass the democratic process. Instead, he would use the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument method and simply seize vast amounts of American soil and water by presidential proclamation.

That was the plan, at least, until May 28. That was the day Liberty Matters faxed an Alert that sparked a firestorm of indignation and created an incredible backlash against the President, his CEQ office and the federal agencies involved in the American Heritage Rivers Initiative. White House telephone operators were swamped with more incoming calls than the system could handle. The grassroots’ response generated such a torrent of protest that Katy McGinty, chairman of the CEQ, said in a press release that she was "bewildered and perplexed" by the amount of opposition to their plan.

The callers simply wanted to know what would keep this presidential initiative from having the same chilling effect on commerce, industry and private property rights as the Utah initiative. The CEQ had allowed a scant 21 days for the public to comment on the Federal Register notice. Worse still, Memorial Day fell within the already too-short comment period. Congressmen were in their home districts celebrating freedom and honoring Americans who had fought and died defending it for the rest of us. Little did they know that the President had chosen this moment to launch a scheme that, if enacted, would rob Americans of that hard-won liberty by controlling every inch of American soil from the White House.

Because they responded to the Alert by the hundreds of thousands, the American people did their part for liberty. They complained loudly that there was too little information and that the White House had allowed too little time for meaningful comments. The CEQ, even under the crushing weight of public scrutiny, had been willing only to say what the Initiative would not do. It would not involve new federal regulations, they said, and it would not involve the appropriation of new federal dollars. Things just didn’t add up. A federal program without regulations that wouldn’t cost the taxpayers more money? Do you think we’re fools, Mr. President?

The White House said that the American Heritage Rivers Initiative stemmed from Vice-President Al Gore’s National Performance Review, the administration’s plan to re-invent government. Federal agencies weren’t communicating among themselves very well and because of their poor communications, they were not delivering services (federal funds) as fast as the President and Vice President would like. This Initiative would solve the problem, they said. Somehow, a new federal designation would cause the agencies to communicate. Somehow, the presidential designation of a river and its watershed would cause agencies to redirect taxpayer dollars that are languishing in their coffers and to refocus their efforts toward the support of the first 10 river communities because they would now be under federal control.

The administration wanted to create another layer of federal bureaucracy, take control of vast amounts of American soil and water, and paste a patriotic label across the front of this pork barrel in the hope that federal agencies would improve their performance. No problem. States should be happy to give up their rivers and the people their private property rights in order to inspire federal employees to do their jobs, right? Even if the people didn’t buy the line about improving the delivery of services, they certainly couldn’t be opposed to saving our rivers.

The President had under-estimated the intelligence of the American people once again. They recognized that this was the same dance, just a different partner. They hadn’t bought the National Heritage Areas Act land-use scheme, though, and to the dismay of the White House, the President’s new scheme wasn’t selling either. Maybe it was the fact that Clinton was bypassing Congress and the democratic process that didn’t sit well. Or maybe it was the part about the designations being perpetual. The information was sketchy, but the American people knew something was very wrong.

The growing controversy prompted legislation by Congressman Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho) who delivered two impassioned speeches from the House floor. She cited the need for Congress to question the purpose of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative. Since the designations would be made by presidential proclamation, Congress would not be given a chance to debate the Initiative unless it took control of the issue. She reminded the members that "this Congress is about less government, self-determination and freedom. It’s about states rights, property rights, and the right of the people to be free of federal entanglements." The American Heritage Rivers Initiative, she said, did not fit that bill. Chenoweth, along with eleven other Congressmen, then introduced HR1842 which would prohibit the Clinton Administration from spending federal funds for the American Heritage Rivers Initiative.

Congressman Don Young, (R-Alaska), Chairman of the House Committee on Resources, and four other committee chairmen also took a stand. They delivered a letter to the CEQ pointing out that because the Initiative was a major federal action, it violated the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Furthermore, its short comment period violated the Administrative Procedures Act. They requested that the CEQ extend the public comment period and deliver a detailed briefing to that Committee no later than June 27.

Two days later, in a surprising show of bipartisan concern, 30 members of Congress signed a letter to the CEQ requesting an extension of the comment period, citing potentially detrimental implications to property rights in the initiative. They too complained that the initial comment period was too short to allow members to prepare meaningful comments.

Because liberty still matters to millions of Americans who refused to let the President take it without a fight, politicians who are sworn to uphold and defend our Constitution joined in the chorus of criticism. Finally, the President’s staff announced they would grant a 60-day reprieve. They re-issued their proposal in the Federal Register on June 20 and the new deadline for public comment is August 20.

In usual form, CEQ assured critics that they had taken care of property rights concerns with their new rules which are "intended to clarify issues raised over the last month." But, on closer inspection, no mention of, nor any specific protections for property rights were included.

More pressure must now be applied to stop this Initiative within the new 60-day window, or an Executive Order will follow. The American Heritage Rivers Initiative will be confirmed and river communities will be asked to submit their petitions for designation by January.

Although this program is not dead, it has been stalled because the American people spoke up. They demanded to know who would stop the President from putting rivers and communities under federal control. They demanded to know what problem the American Heritage Rivers Initiative would solve that could not be solved without a federal designation. They demanded to know what need would be met by the initiative that could not be met now. If federal agencies had money to give away, they wanted to know what was preventing them from doing their job that a federal designation would cure.

Most of all, the American people demanded to know what would make any presidential initiative worth the ensuing loss of freedom. Thank you, America, for asking. Keep asking, for they do not now and never will have a good enough answer.