Liberty Matters News Service

12/15/97 Volume I, Issue 21

Senator Kempthorne’s efforts to bring S. 1180 (The Endangered Species Reauthorization Act) to the floor of the Senate before adjourning for the year was stalled by grassroots pressure thanks to your efforts. However, Kempthorne has stated he will work hard to bring the bill up early next year. A number of major trade associations are aggressively supporting his bill even though many experts believe the bill is worse than the existing ESA. The bill preserves federal land-use control over private property and even codifies new federal regulatory controls without providing for compensation. If we allow the ESA to be reauthorized in this form, we will not have the protections we need and will not have another opportunity to fix the law for at least six more years. Begin now to contact your Senators to let them know how you feel about this bill. Faxback docs. 216, 192, 191, 179

It has been reported that over 114 American rivers have been nominated under Clinton’s American Heritage Rivers Initiative. He will choose 10 rivers for 1998 and begin implementing his watershed management scheme early next year. On Wednesday, December 10, 1997, however, Rep. Don Young (R-AK), Helen Chenoweth (R-ID), Richard Pombo (R-CA), and Bob Schaffer (R-Co) represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation and Perry Pendley, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District of Court in Washington, DC. The suit contends that the president has no legal authority to implement his Initiative and that it violates federal land-management policies enacted by Congress. Keep the pressure on your elected officials to oppose this Initiative. The president should not be allowed to circumvent the will of the people and Congress. Faxback doc. 217

After fighting the City of Tigard in Oregon for eight years over the taking of their property, the Dolan family accepted a settlement offer of $1.5 million for a bike path that the city could have purchased for $14,000. Instead, in 1991, the city tried to force the Dolans to give up part of their land for a public bike path in return for issuing them a permit to expand their private place of business. The Dolans believed this was an unconstitutional taking of their property and filed a lawsuit against the city of Tigard, eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in their favor (Dolan v. City of Tigard, 512 U.S. 374, 1994), but gave the city a chance to prove that the bike path was "roughly proportional" to the impact of the store expansion. The city decided it could not defend its position and finally paid the Dolans just compensation. This is a great victory for the Dolan family and a great victory for property rights! Faxback doc. 218

Who Sold Their Soul?

Like a bitter pill, the president signed into law on November 14 the Interior Appropriations Bill over the objections of the environmental community. In typical legislative fashion, both sides had to "sell their collective souls" to obtain concessions. Reportedly, the Republicans gave the president funding for National Endowment for the Arts & Humanities and in return obtained concessions that included: no funds be used by the National Park Service in conjunction with the United Nations Biodiversity Treaty; Eco-system management plans cannot proceed without congressional approval; any grant money given by the National Park Service to environmental organizations cannot be used to lobby Congress; all funds out of the Interior Department for the United Nations "Man and the Biosphere" program are terminated. For more details on this bill, order Faxback doc. 219