March 9, 1998--Volume II, Issue 4 

Wednesday Vote on Tucker Act Shuffle Bill

HR 922, sponsored by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), will go to the house floor for a vote this Wednesday, March 11th. The bill grants more access and opportunities for relief to property owners by giving the Federal District Courts and U.S. Court of Federal Claims concurrent jurisdiction over property rights cases. Specifically the bill would: 1) allow both courts to hear claims for monetary relief and the invalidation of any Act of Congress or agency regulation; 2) allow the property owner to file in his court of preference; and 3) repeal the section in the Tucker Act which denies the Claims Court the ability to hear a suit pending in another court brought by the same plaintiff. The bill is a procedural fix allowing property owners more remedies without being bounced between the two different courts. Contact your Congressman before Wednesday’s vote with your support. Faxback Doc. 244 

Judge Dismisses Heritage Lawsuit

US District Judge Henry Kennedy (a Clinton appointee) dismissed the lawsuit filed by House Resources Committee Chair Don Young (R-AK), Helen Chenoweth (R-ID) and other members of the committee to stop Clinton’s American Heritage Rivers program. The lawsuit had alleged that the executive order creating the program interfered with zoning powers of local authorities in violation of the 10th Amendment and created an unconstitutional intrusion into private property rights. The judge said the legislators did not have standing to file the lawsuit and that their rights had not yet been violated. William Perry Pendley, director of Mountain States Legal Foundation who represented Young and the others said he plans to appeal the case.

Kyoto Fiction

The White House announced last week that the economic impacts of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change would be "modest" potentially raising the average household’s annual energy bill by $70 to $110. Business groups like the US Chamber of Commerce called the analysis "total fantasy." Congressman Bob Schaefer (R-CO) said the study "appears to be based on assumptions about the outcome of future negotiations that may never materialize." In the meantime the Washington Times reported that the EPA wants Congress to give it "sweeping powers to start carrying out" the Kyoto Protocol before the Senate even considers ratification . While the White House refuses to send the treaty to the Senate for fear it will be opposed, the administrative agencies appear to have been given the green light to implement it anyway.

The environmental group, Riverlink, set up and advertised 3 "debates" with Congressman Charles Taylor and Westley Warren of CEQ to address the Congressman’s "concerns" about the AHRI nomination of the French Broad River in North Carolina. However, Taylor’s office had not been invited or even notified. In a letter to Katy McGinty, Taylor states, "either you have used appropriated funds to underwrite your agency’s PR campaign .... or perhaps your organization is unwittingly being dragged into a series of false statements that serve a political purpose. The first option may well be illegal and the second exhibits an alarming degree of incompetence." Taylor also sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee requesting an investigation of improper expenditures of appropriated tax dollars. Faxback Doc. 245

In a related story, CEQ took it’s dog and pony show to Montana last week, perhaps in an effort to re-educate Senator Conrad Burns, an opponent of the initiative. The meeting, staged at the Yellowstone Heritage Center, was a disaster for the promoters of AHRI designation as the audience that showed up was overwhelmingly against the Heritage designation.

Listing of AHRI Opt -Out resolutions Faxback Doc. 250