1 June 1998--Volume 2, Issue 10
AHRI River Commission to meet June 16 in St. Louis MO
Senate Companion Bill to HR 901 Introduced
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) filed S 2098, as a companion bill to HR 901, the American Land Sovereignty Protection Act. Campbell cited the need to "preserve American Sovereignty and halt the extension of the executive branch into congressional constitutional authority… The executive branch may be indirectly agreeing to terms of international treaties, such as the Convention on Biodiversity, to which the United States is not a party, and one which our country has refused to ratify." This is an important step to curbing unwanted and illegal international meddling in our internal affairs. Your Senators need to hear from you concerning this bill TODAY! Faxback Docs. 301 (Press Release 4pg), 302
NWI, Dr. Bonner Cohen Blast EPA and Carol Browner
A report entitled, The People v. Carol Browner: EPA on Trial, was released May 12 by the National Wilderness Institute and Dr Bonner Cohen, editor of EPA Watch. The report documents patterns of questionable behavior by high level EPA officials including:
· Rules silencing whistleblowers;
· Creating and submitting backdated documents to federal court;
· Requesting career scientists to lobby members of Congress in violation of federal law;
· Overseeing the creation of a tax-exempt group to circumvent state and local governments in violation of existing agreements;
· Abusing the Congressional Review Act and establishing unwritten and unpublished regulations.
According to Dr. Bonner, "The pattern of abuse in the report is reminiscent of …the IRS. None of this misconduct is even remotely related to protecting our environment." To get the 25 page report, order Faxback Doc. 304
National Sovereignty in Harms Way
On June 17, delegates meet in Rome to put the finishing touches on the International Criminal Court (Court). The purpose of the Court is to prosecute war criminals and others guilty of "enumerated" crimes. According to Henry Lamb of the Environmental Conservation Organization, the intent of those creating the court is "to enforce all international law, including social and environmental law." With the creation of this court, we, as a nation, will be giving up much, if not all, of our national sovereignty. It was reported that Mr. Gianfranco Dell’Alba, a European Union delegate from Italy said: "One thing is absolutely clear…[W]e can’t have a court without states giving up part of their sovereignty." There will be no jury trials, all judges will be appointed, appeals will be to different judges, but to the same court and anyone or entity (corporation or organization) can be prosecuted with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for individuals and dissolution and confiscation of assets for corporations and organizations. It is up to us to make sure Congress doesn’t allow our national sovereignty to be placed in harms way.
Summary Briefing Paper Faxback Doc. 305
DOI Violates Federal Law
On May 20, the U.S. House Committee on Resources, approved an oversight report that said the Department of the Interior (DOI) illegally issued hardrock mining bonding regulations despite warnings from federal officials that they were violating federal laws. According to the report, DOI’s final rule is "significantly different from the draft rule," and that DOI was told that they were in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. The report also states that a former National Wildlife Federation official "greatly influenced" the rule by originally signing the Federation’s comments on the bonding rule and then as a DOI staff member pushed the rule through the process. Faxback Doc. 303
The Northwest Mining Association (NMA) also recently won a lawsuit over the rules. On May 13, Judge June Green, US District Court for the DC Circuit, denied BLM’s motion for summary judgement, declared the final Bonding rules invalid and ordered the rules remanded back to the BLM. NMA was represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation from Denver, Colorado. Faxback Doc. 306, 307