Liberty Matters News Service

April 17, 2002

Earth Day, 32 Years of It

April 22, 2002 marks the 32^nd anniversary of Earth Day. Its founders patterned it after anti-Vietnam War protests, but this event was organized as a national grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment. The observation has evolved into one dominated by professional environmental organizations that employ armies of lawyers, lobbyists and public affairs specialists and whose top managers pull down six-figure salaries. Information provided by the National Center for Public Policy Research Earth Day 2002 Fact Sheet; shows that federal environmental regulations have caused the costs of building single family homes in three American cities, Cincinnati, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Santa Fe, New Mexico, to triple between 1974 and 1994. Administrative costs to write and enforce federal regulations for fiscal year 2001 is estimated at $19.8 billion and staff numbers for the 54 federal regulatory agencies have ballooned to 131,983. Americans had to spend $843 billion to comply with the rules in 2000, or $8,164 per household. Ninety per cent of all businesses in the United States employ fewer than 20 people, which translates to a cost of $7,000 per employee for the firms to comply with federal rules.
History of Earth Day
Earth Day, Myths & Facts

Virginia Couple Face Fine For Wetlands Abuse

A Norwalk, Virginia couple is accused of conducting a regulated activity without a permit and have been ordered to appear in court on charges that they trimmed bushes on their private ocean view property that happens to be a wetland. The charge carries penalties of up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. Doug Nicoll appeared before the Norwalk Wetlands Board to explain that he and his wife Tammy had attempted to contact the Environmental Services office after they received notice they had violated the law, but no one returned their calls. An Environmental Services employee concluded that trimming the bushes could kill them, leading to erosion and storm water run-off problems. The couple has been trimming the bushes since 1994 and they haven’t died yet. "If people don’t start fighting stuff," Tammy Nicoll said, "we’re going to lose every right that we have." 
Couple Hit With Wetlands Fine for Trimming Bushes

Environmentalists Plan Grazing Buyout

The National Public Lands Grazing Campaign, a coalition of radical environmental groups, is trying another approach to cleanse the West of what they consider the greatest scourge in the history of mankind. The group has sent letters to 25,000 grazing permittees offering to buy their grazing rights for $175.00 per AUM. A permittee with 300 pairs would receive $262,000 on an average five-month permit.  The environmentalists tout their own scientific studies as showing livestock grazing is one of the most pervasive and destructive uses of federal lands in the West claiming grazing practices have degraded eighty per cent of all streams and riparian ecosystems and 175 plant and animal species, from sage grouse to grizzly bears, are in jeopardy.  Taxpayers will jump for joy when they get the bill for the buyout, estimated to be $3.3 billion, initially. Andy Kerr of the NPLGC says the plan is "a win, win, win, for permittees, taxpayers and the environment." He doesn’t say, however, how much money his group has collected to fund their plan or what use they envision for the newly cattle-cleansed West.
Environmentalists Propose Grazing Lease Buyout

Watch Out for the Community Character Act!  

Believe it or not, this “feel-good” title is all about land use plans, zoning and controlling private property.  S. 975, introduced by Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) was scheduled for committee action in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, but has been postponed indefinitely.  The bill’s intent is to funnel $50 million to states over the next two years encouraging them to develop a comprehensive land use plan that coordinates with the federal government.  The stated purpose of Chafee’s bill is “to guide, regulate, or assist in the planning, regulation, and management of – (a) environmental resources; (b) public works infrastructure; (c) regional economic development; (d) current and future development practices; and (e) other activities related to the pattern and scope of future land use.”  They want to control all growth in the future and use terms such as “smart growth” and “sustainable development,” which in reality are all code words by the environmental radicals for no growth and no development.
S. 975 Bill Summary
Lincoln Chafee Advances Bill to Usurp Local Control ...

Scientists Ask President to End Logging

Claiming, “our national forests have suffered from intense commercial logging,” 221 “conservation-minded” scientists have signed a letter requesting that the President end all logging in the national forests.  The letter states that “almost all of our old growth forests are gone and the timber industry has turned our national forests into a patchwork of clearcut, logging roads, and devastated habitat.”  It appears as though these “scientists” are trying to deflect the blame on the real problem.  The greatest threat to our national forests is the management practices of our federal government where millions of acres of timber with dead and diseased trees are fuel for some of our most devastating forest fires.  We can always hope the President will ignore the environmentalist’s request and ditch the non-use methods of the past for good productive management.
Scientists Ask Immediate End to Logging U.S. National Forests