Liberty Matters News Service
July 18, 2002
Liberal
congressmen on both sides of the aisle attempted to pass controversial
legislation by adding amendments to the Interior Appropriations bill
being considered the week of July 15th.
Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT)
added their National Forest Roadless Area Protection Act, H.R. 4865, to
the appropriations bill in an effort to bypass House leaders who refuse
to allow the measure out of committee for a floor vote.
The bill would prohibit new roads built for commercial purposes,
but would allow roads to be built for fire protection and maintenance.
It was announced that Rep. Inslee pulled the amendment early July
17. No explanation was
given. Rep. Earl Blumenauer
(D-OR) threw a monkey wrench into efforts to resolve water problems in
the Klamath Basin when he offered an amendment to the appropriations
bill that would prevent federal funds to be used for new leases on the
Tule Lake Refuge and Lower Klamath Lake Refuge.
The law would affect 16 leases that are scheduled to begin next
year. Proponents of the
amendment charge that pesticide use in the refuges is detrimental to
wildlife. Pesticide use is
closely monitored by a farm board, and the refuge manager was quoted as
saying: “We’ve never found it to have an adverse effect on the
environment.” There
has been a cooperative effort among local farmers, the Bureau of
Reclamation and environmental groups to solve the problems facing the
Klamath Basin area. Congressman
Blumenauer’s amendment has “driven a wedge into the spirit of local
cooperation,” according to sources.
Democrats
Push Roadless Plan For Parks
Roadless area factsheet ALA2
New
ESA Plan
The
House Resource Committee voted 22-18 on July 10th for
legislation that would amend the Endangered Species Act, requiring
“sound science” as a basis for deciding on protections for species
and habitat and would allow the interior secretary and governors in
affected states to pick scientists for a peer review panel, in certain
instances. Federal
agencies would be allowed 18 months to decide if species would be
protected, instead of the current 12 months.
Proponents welcome the good start to reform, a move they say is
long overdue, while their counterpoints in the environmental movement
fear it will lead to further destruction of struggling species and
habitat. Andy Caldwell,
executive director of the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business,
fully supports H.R. 4840. “You’ve
got two types of science out there, real science and junk science.
Right now the
No
Heritage Act Vote Yet
It
was reported that the Heritage Areas Act, H.R. 2388, was scheduled for
vote in the House this week. However,
sources in Washington indicate that it is not yet on the agenda.
The Interior Appropriations bill will occupy most of the week.
The Heritage bill is described as a federal land use zoning plan
that places more property under control of central government for the
preservation of natural, historic, cultural, or recreational resources.
In other words, for any purpose desired.
It was first introduced in 1999, but met stiff opposition from
property rights groups and was defeated.
Over two dozen Natural Heritage Areas have been designated by
Congress, with over a dozen waiting for approval this Session.
This is the omnibus bill that will facilitate the coordination of
hundreds of federal and state agencies with environmental organizations
to control and manage private and non-private lands.
It has been resurrected and needs to be defeated once again.
Beyond
the Twilight Zone
A grand tour is being planned this
summer that is beyond anything Hollywood could have made up called
“The Green Anarchy Tour.” It
began Wednesday, in Ashland, Oregon and will wind through California and
the Southwest on its way to Washington, D. C.
The Tour is made up of environmental activists who are so green
they are gangrenous. They
are promoting the Tour as an opportunity for “animal rights activists,
anarchists and urban hell-dwellers” to participate in “Direct Action
Workshops,” which might better be described as lessons in sabotage and
arson of government, the business community and society at large.
The Tour “is an attempt to bridge the gap between the punk
movement, the revolutionary anarchist movement, the ecological movement,
and prisoners of war who have been incarcerated for their involvement in
the struggles listed above,” states their Web site.
They claim they have refined the tools of resistance to a “new
scale…to tear down this corporate society we’re going to need more
than a few ‘wrecking balls’ because we can’t rebuild an eco-system
without tearing down all that stands in its way…”
Hopefully, this movement won’t gain any steam, but watch the
major media and their twist on the subject.
Ecoterrorists
Plot to Destroy Civilization