Liberty Matters News Service

The Washington Post ran an editorial last week calling Don Young’s HR 701 "a lush lands bill" that is "bringing home permanent funding streams" for those Congressmen supporting the bill. "The $1 billion has helped to buy some of the votes for the bill. It’s wrong to create such fiefdoms." There are now 304 co-sponsors. Last week, Don Young was joined by Bruce Babbitt and radical environmental groups for a rally trying to pressure leadership to bring the bill to the floor. Representative Ralph Regula (R-OH), chairman of Interior Appropriations Subcommitee said that his position is "hardened now more than ever" against HR 701. The House Ag and Budget Committees tried to hold the bill, but Young cut a deal to force the bill out of Ag by March 17 and Budget by March 31, with the goal of having the bill on the floor by mid-April. On the Senate side, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) introduced S 2123, replacing S 25 and is the exact companion to HR 701, as passed out of committee. We need a full court press on Speaker Dennis Hastert. Hastert is wavering and could allow a floor debate and a vote. Don’t let this happen! Call now! No CARA, No Compromise!
Faxback No. 2115
Speaker Dennis Hastert - 202-225-2976,
Fax 202-225-0697 Don’t let Waver
Ralph Regula - 202-225-3876,
Fax 202-225-3059 Thank for Opposing
Maj. Whip - Tom DeLay - 202-225-5951,
Fax 202-225-5241 Thank for Opposing

Be Creative, Think Offensively

Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) has initiated "Project Evergreen" to solicit ideas to counter executive orders and rule changes that have occurred under the Clinton Administration, as well as, counter the "entire (environmental) movement and undercut their sources of power." Believing that a Republican is going to be the next President, Doolittle wants to go on the offensive as soon as a new Administration takes the oath of office. For information on how to contact Rep. Doolittle with your ideas, order Faxback No. 2116

The Corps of Engineers is replacing a single wetland’s permit with five narrower permits and is modifying six others. The new process would decrease a three-acre minimum needed for a wetlands permit to half an acre. The National Audubon Society said the rules change is a "step closer" to President Clinton’s net wetlands goal of 1 million acres by 2005. Faxback No. 2117

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower courts decision in the case Defenders of Wildlife v. Bernal where the environmental group filed an injunction to stop construction of a new high school claiming the site was prime habitat for the endangered pygmy-owl. The court ruled that "Defenders had to prove that the School District’s actions would result in an unlawful ‘take’ of a pygmy owl," but found that "no pygmy-owl had been detected anywhere within the school site itself." The 9th Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision and the previous injunction to build the school was removed. Faxback No. 2118 (11 pages)

Jerry Christman, a 48-year old logger who lives in Athens County, Ohio was charged last month with a misdemeanor for possession of an endangered rattlesnake and faces a fine of $1000 and six months in jail. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources brought the charges after they concluded that Christman and his son were responsible for the death of a 47 inch long, 8 inch round timber rattler that was killed by a tree the two felled during a logging operation. Spokeswoman Carol Wells commented, "Unless he steps forward and says ‘Yes, I whacked it on purpose,’ he can go on saying a tree fell on the snake. It’s his word against ours."
Faxback No. 2119

To Order Faxback Documents dial 1-512-352-3030 from your fax machine and follow the voice prompts. You can order up to five documents. When you finish your order, Faxback will send your requested documents back across your fax machine. If you have trouble with this transmission, please call 1-800-847-0227. Permission to reprint is granted in whole or part with attribution to: Liberty Matters News Service

2/14/2000

Don Young’s "Road to Socialism" bill, H.R. 701, is facing two new challenges in Congress. At the beginning of the year, the bill was referred to the House Budget and Agriculture Committees and last week more members of Congress decided it should also be reviewed by both the House Commerce and Government Reform committees. Keep up the pressure!

On February 2nd, the House Resource Committee heard testimony on H.R. 3160, the ESA reform legislation filed by Rep. Don Young (R-AK). Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage (R-ID) offered blunt advice on how to fix it. "Repeal it," she said, "it doesn’t work and it has never worked." Doc. # 2106

The White House has announced which states are targeted for federal lands purchases as part of the "historic" Lands Legacy Initiative. Only 16 states have land that the federal government doesn’t covet. Arkansas will receive $1 million, Arizona $6.8, Colorado $14.4, Florida $80.8, Texas $9.8 and $8.7 for Idaho, where government already owns 2/3 of the land. On Feb. 8th, Babbitt announced the Administration will also be making several more monument designations saying: "our motto for the year 2000: Lame ducks have wings." This administration seems determined to reverse two hundred years of private property ownership in less than a year. Doc. # 2107, 2108

The Clinton Administration has announced yet another of its unending "initiatives" called "Greening the Globe" and pledges 150 million tax dollars "to fight logging practices that each year lay waste to an area the size of North Carolina." George Frampton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, predicts Republicans will "enthusiastically" endorse the initiative because last year they approved $80 million for the efforts. By strange coincidence, Indonesia will receive some of the $100 million set aside for countries whose forests are most endangered. Through a $37 million "debts for nature" program, the U.S. will forgive the debts of nations which promise to create new sanctuaries.  Doc. # 2109

A fashionable cause of the environmental elite is to "save the tropical rain forest," but Paul Stott, author of "Tropical Rainforest: A Political Ecology of Hegemonic Mythmaking," says there has never been a "tropical rain forest," adding, "these forests are not a million years old, in fact they have existed a mere 12,000 years." The environmentalists’ demands to leave the forests in a "virgin" state is a dangerous concept that threatens the ability of the world to adapt to change. "The world functions largely in non-equilibrium, with its biological components being endlessly remixed in response to change, so the forests ebb and flow, with the world surviving unharmed. This is not a fragile Earth, it is an intrinsically restless Earth, flexible but ever tough."

Politicians might talk about cutting government spending, but last year Congress squandered $129 billion on 137 programs that weren’t even authorized. For example: The Legal Services Corp., which advocates far left-wing legal agendas and hasn’t been authorized since 1979, received $305 million. The National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, together received $213 million and neither has been authorized since 1993. The kicker is the Justice Department, the one that turns a blind eye to the President’s scandals, was awarded a whopping $14 billion.

On Tuesday, February 15th, the House Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, chaired by Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage, will hold a hearing on the growing relationship between large foundations, national environmental organizations and the federal government in the development and implementation of U.S. environmental policy. The hearing will be the focus of a book written by Ron Arnold, executive vice president of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, entitled Undue Influence. Foundations invest over $400 million a year in environmental advocacy and research.  Doc. # 2110