Liberty Matters News Service 

10/18/99

Clinton Closes 40 Million Acres

Last Wednesday, President Clinton announced his plan to halt all road building and commercial development in 40 million acres of national forest land. He was quoted as saying that he used his administrative might to "outmaneuver powerful opponents in Congress." The initiative would protect about 20 percent of the 192 million acres of wilderness owned by the U.S. Forest Service. At the same time, ordered the Forest Service to determine how such protections should be extended to smaller "roadless" areas. Clinton’s proposed rule can prohibit "logging or other activities that harm their unique ecological values." Clearly, this is just another step towards re-wilding America.

Faxback Docs. 442, 443

Guard Duty for H.R. 701

H.R. 701, Don Young’s special interest bill disguised as "saving our national treasures" has hit a buzz saw of criticism and controversy and insiders say the Chairman will not bring the bill to mark up this Wednesday as planned. Republican leaders, to their credit, have told Young that they will not move his bill without a majority of Republicans on his own committee supporting the measure. Recent negotiations have not produced any agreeable language, but there is talk of a "no net loss of private lands" amendment that would require the federal government to dispose of federal holdings of equal value to the land being acquired. But this policy would only relocate landowners to less desirable areas. It’s still socialism. Keep the pressure on. There is talk that Congress could come back for two weeks in December. Anything can happen during this time and we must keep the pressure on the Leadership. Faxback Doc. 444

White House Caught Helping Eco Terrorists

The Washington Times reported that top White House officials were "interfering and leaking" sensitive information to environmental terrorists during a standoff with law enforcement officials over a timber sale. Thirty-five protestors were illegally encamped for one year in an Oregon forest where they had erected barricades (made out of timber), dug 6 foot deep trenches across roads, shot squirt guns filled with urine at officers, and carried metal spikes to maim those who tried to enter. At least one was heavily armed. While local officials made plans to arrests the environmentalists, former Chief of Staff Leon Panetta gave the order to law enforcement to "stand down" and not arrest the radical environmentalists, four months before the presidential election. The House Resources Committee task force found evidence of a "back channel" of information from the Council of Environmental Quality (CEQ) to the ecoterrorists. A Justice Department official’s telephone notes corroborated the suspicion of illegal leaks by a senior CEQ official. Faxback Doc. 445

Grazing Regulations to be Reviewed by Supreme Court

This week the Supreme Court agreed to hear Public Lands Council et al v. Babbitt which was originally filed in Federal District Court in 1995. The plaintiffs challenged several portions of Babbitt’s "Rangeland Reform" regulations, claiming they violated long standing grazing laws such as the Taylor Grazing Act passed in 1934. Babbitt’s rangeland reform regulations were designed to extinguish livestock grazing on the western federal lands and force the turnover of water rights to the federal government. The plaintiff’s case challenged that grazing policy claiming it violated Congressional intent and current law. Faxback Doc. 446

Man fined $10,000 for Owl harassment

A California man has been fined $10,000, spent 2 days in jail, must perform 100 hours of community service and 3 years probation for using a slingshot to scare away a Barn Owl that was causing a ruckus outside of his home. The man was found guilty of one count of cruelty to animals and also guilty of a wildlife code violation. The man noted that the $10,000 fine might as well be a million, he and his wife live paycheck to paycheck and stated, "There’s laws out there that give animals more rights than people." Faxback Doc. 447