Liberty Matters News Service
July 31, 2001
After
almost six hours of debate, the House Resource Committee passed H.R.
701, the Conservation and Reinvestment Act, by a 29-12 vote. Committee Chairman, Jim Hansen (R-UT), joined Democrats in
approving the measure and criticized private landowners as being part of
the “so-called private property movement … that obviously had not
fully read the bill.” Interestingly,
Utah stands to receive $53 million annually from CARA and Rep. Don
Young, author of CARA and now chairman of the Transportation and
Infrastructure committee, has seen to it that Utah will receive millions
for road improvements for the upcoming Olympics.
Western lawmakers worked diligently to add amendments to protect
property rights and even to sunset CARA in five years instead of
fifteen, but all were defeated. Rep.
Mac Thornberry’s amendment preventing CARA funds from being used by
non-profit groups for citizen lawsuits passed, but committee members
were summoned back to defeat the amendment in an unusual second vote.
Those voted against CARA in the final vote include: Richard Pombo
(R-CA), Barbara Cubin (R-WY), William (Mac) Thornberry (R-TX), John
Peterson (R-PA), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Butch Otter (R-ID), Tom Osborn
(R-NE) and J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), Jim Gibbons (R-NV), Mike Simpson
(R-ID), Bob Shaffer (R-CO), Greg Walden (R-OR).
Chairman Hansen predicts the bill will go to the full House
in September. Now is the
time to contact the House leadership to demand they not allow this bill
to be brought up for a vote. Call
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Dick Armey, and Majority
Whip, Tom DeLay, without delay.
U.S. House of Representatives,
Committee on Resources - Committee Action
Reader's
View - Mike Simpson: CARA would sap funds from other programs
Armed
BLM Employees Confiscate Cattle
On
July 25th, armed employees of the BLM confiscated 67 head of
cattle from a grazing allotment in Nevada owned by Colvin Cattle
Company. The BLM had
earlier filed trespass charges against the ranch after a long dispute
over the terms and conditions upon which the BLM wanted Nevada rancher
Ben Colvin to agree to by signing their grazing permit.
The terms would have made it impossible for the ranch to continue
in operation so Colvin refused to sign the permit and continued to graze
his allotment. “My
allotment is a privately-owned surface estate right on federal lands,”
explained Colvin. Pointing
to the preliminary decision in Hage v. United States, Colvin
stated, “There is recent court precedent which states that a person
does not need a permit if the federal government is using the permit to
take your property. The BLM was using my permit to convert the use of my
range to a wild horse grazing area so I canceled my permit and waived
all so called benefits from the BLM.”
The BLM confiscated the cattle while the Esmeralda County Sheriff
was out of town. The
Sheriff had earlier told the BLM they would need a court order, which
they never produced. The
cattle are now being held in a sale yard in Fallon, Nevada. The BLM plans to sell the cattle with or without a proper
brand inspection required for the sale of livestock under state law.
Stewards
of the Range Press Release
A
Little Too Late
Protesters remain at their posts in the
Klamath Basin as irrigation officials try to ready canals to handle the
limited flow of water ordered released by Secretary Norton.
The manager of Enterprise Irrigation District, which serves 1400
landowners, says the water won’t go far, given the dry and parched
earth it will serve. Pointing
to week-filled dry canals, he said it is “extremely difficult to come
back into the game like this. To
say the least it’s an incredible disaster.” Volunteers worked Sunday to help clear the canals so that
they can handle the water when it is turned out.
Officials expect 1/6 of the released water will be lost through
absorption and evaporation caused by the dry canal beds.
Secretary Norton acknowledged that the water is “too little,
too late” to save farmers in the Basin.
The Owyhee Cattlemen’s Association in Idaho has called upon
President Bush to immediately begin the process of compensation the
farmers and business people dependent upon agriculture for the taking of
their property rights resulting from the shut-down of water.
Another
Water Story
A
group of county officials, farmers and ranchers, in the Methow Valley of
Washington state, have filed suit against the federal government for
cutting off their water in the name of the Endangered Species Act.
Okanogan County and the irrigators tried for two years to find a
cooperative and legal solution for salmon conservation, but the federal
agencies unilaterally imposed target flow conditions that farmers say
impose “impossible standards.”
The feds’ new rules prohibit farmers from irrigating “if river flows fall below what they were more than 100 years ago, before
people started using the water.”
The U.S. Forest Service has since informed Congress that they
will abandon the policy, but the irrigators in Methow Valley are still
obligated, hence the lawsuit. A
spokesman said; “This
lawsuit is not about whether irrigators have to comply with the
Endangered Species Act – we do – this lawsuit is about unchecked and
illegal federal control over our water rights."
Rural County and
Farmers Sue Federal Agencies To Protect Water Rights