Last month, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Commerce Secretary William M. Daley unveiled two "incentive policies" they claim have created a "new Endangered Species Act," and are "saving hundreds of additional species." The plans are called "Safe Harbor" and "Candidate Conservation Agreements." Both are aimed at getting the landowner to "voluntarily" enter into a contractual agreement so the government does not have to pay for the taking of private property. Both plans require the landowner to provide a "net" benefit to each species listed which normally includes either setting aside acreage for the species or paying money to the government to use your own property. They call it "mitigation," but under any other banner, this would be called extortion.

Faxback doc. 143 (13 pgs)

White House in "Damage Control" mode on Heritage Rivers

The backlash by the American people over the implementation of the American Heritage Rivers Initiative (AHRI) has prompted president Clinton to instigate a public relations campaign to repair the damage. The Washington Post on 4th of July led the charge claiming that it is "the newest symbol for anti-Washington factions convinced of a U.N. plot to take over the country’s natural resources," and that opponents are those who see "black helicopters." In other words, they cannot answer the legitimate issues raised about the president’s attempts to circumvent Congress and the American people. The House Resources Committee will hold an oversight hearing on this initiative Tuesday, July 15, 1997 at 10 a.m. Contact the members of that committee today, and make sure they know your concerns. The AHRI is not about saving rivers, it is federal land control pure and simple.

Faxback doc. 147 (2 pgs)

Devouring the West, One Ecosystem at a Time

The Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Plan is in its final stages with comments due by October 6th on the preferred alternative to "actively restore" 144 million acres. The federal ecosystem covers all of Idaho, half of Washington and Oregon and parts of Montana. The plan was initiated by a Clinton administration’s memorandum of understanding with 21 federal agencies after the Biodiversity Treaty failed in the Senate over two years ago. The memorandum allows the agencies to bypass congressional authority and oversight. Under the new plan, the federal agencies are expected to rewrite existing land use plans, cut grazing and timber permits, identify road closures and many other aggressive actions. Although they claim property rights will not be affected, the preferred alternative is based on the false premise that the best resource areas are those with no development of any kind and it is their goal to restore the Columbia basin to this pristine level. The ecosystem is part of the larger environmental goal to "rewild" and depopulate the West which was created by Earth First! known as "The Wildlands Project."

Faxback doc. 144 (2pgs) 145 (9pgs) 146 (9pgs)

The environmental movement is blowing more hot air to scare Americans and Congress into ratifying the proposed Climate Change Treaty. Marine Biologists with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration are claiming that the early arrival of El Nino, (the cyclical phenomenon that has been warming Pacific waters for millions of years), will result in massive deaths of seals, sea lions and small fish and could prevent the successful migration of salmon and rockfish. U.S. Fish & Wildlife, not to be outdone, projects that a "dramatic increase in the starvation of seabirds" will result from the warmer water. As usual, when the enviros don’t have a scientific fact to stand on they just try and scare the common sense out everyone.