Liberty Matters News Service 

August 18, 2000

I don't believe government, unless it's a communist 
government, should own lands.

Rep. Don Young, Father of CARA

CARA: Fate In Your Hands

CARA could become law in just a few short weeks if Frank Murkowski and the Republican Leadership (Trent Lott) have their way. Preventing CARA from ever coming to a vote is about the only way to stop this bill. If it appears on the floor right now, it has the votes to pass. Still, CARA is so controversial that Lott may reconsider allowing any floor action. Time and controversy are on the side of property rights. However, attaching the bill to an appropriations bill is certain doom. At that stage, it will be difficult to stop. Call your Senators today and demand they not allow CARA to be attached to any appropriations bill or let it be brought to the floor for debate.
Reagan Info. Interchange. Faxback Doc. 2173

Legal Holes Plugged

The Clinton administration wants to plug the legal holes that developers and others are using to drain wetlands. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers claim nearly 20,000 acres of wetlands have been lost since 1997, after a U.S. District Court declared that a Clinton wetland’s rule change was too broad. The agency claims developers and miners have taken advantage of the ruling to drain land that often served as breeding grounds for a variety of wildlife (disease-carrying mosquitoes come to mind). In a related story, Clinton and Gore gave their stamp of approval to the development of a shopping mall in Carlstadt, N.J. on a site that just happens to be a "wetland." U.S. Fish and Wildlife suddenly reversed its opposition to the development and miraculously, over $31,000 appeared in Gore’s presidential campaign coffers from the developers.
USA Today, The Federalist. Faxback Doc. 2174

Reported last Tuesday by Greenwire, Bruce Babbitt announced he will retire in January as Secretary of the Interior "even if Al Gore gets elected as president." And, he said, he would not recommend Clinton use the Antiquities Act to designate any more Western lands as national monuments. He then promptly announced two more monuments in Arizona and Idaho equaling nearly 1 million acres of land-239,000 acres in Arizona for the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and and 720,400 acres to expand Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument.
Chicago Tribune. Faxback Doc. 2175

If Al Gore becomes president, he is likely to initiate a "Global Environmental Agency" with extensive powers to regulate the world’s environment without having to bother with individual nations or states. Laura Tyson, a Gore advisor, indicated there would be widespread support for an international environmental policing organization in the United States and other industrial countries. United Press. Faxback Doc. 2176

But Wait – We Already Have One

NATO-led troops seized a lead smelting plant in the town of Mitrovica, Kosovo, August 13, alleging environmental violations. "This was the last factory under Serb control," stated one of the Serb leaders. According to the Financial Times, the conflict came after Serbian management "refused UN demands to shut the plant and did not accept a resolution giving UN the right to manage former Yugoslave state properties." Kosovo’s UN mission head reported that a French, US and Swedish committee will spend $16m creating a renovation plan to restart the mine.
Associated Press. Faxback Doc. 2177

Once again, when government gets involved, nature loses. In the 1980s, the Army Corp of Engineers dredged the Columbia River to keep the shipping channels clear. The spoils created a 220-acre island that by 1996 hosted the largest known colony of Caspian Terns in the world –some 20,000 birds (protected by the international migratory bird treaty). To the horror of government biologists, it was determined that the Terns were eating up to 25% of the 85 to 100 million baby salmon (protected by the Endangered Species Act) released each year from government hatcheries. In other words, the government, not dams, is to blame for salmon not returning to their spawning waters. It gets worse. Government agents met over 60 times and created the "Tern harassment plan" to move the Terns to another island. Plywood eagles, silt fences and floodlights to disrupt their sleep were planned when friends of the birds sued to stop the harassment. Today, the birds remain on Rice Island where predators are now killing Tern chicks. Playing God isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Wall Street Journal. Faxback Doc. 2178