Liberty Matters News Service
August 1, 2002
Senate
OK's Daschle's Security Plan
Sen. Thomas Daschle (D-SD) pulled a fast one last week by adding the
"Black Hills Fire Prevention" agreement to the Supplemental
Defense Appropriations bill passed by Congress and now on its way to the
White House. The agreement allows forest managers to immediately
begin thinning trees in Black Hills forests and by-passing environmental
comment periods. The move prompted a letter to Sen. Daschle from
the Western Caucus noting that "[T]he wildfire problem has been
elevated to crisis proportions by appeals, lawsuits and gratuitous
bureaucracy that effectively prohibit forest management on any
meaningful scale." The letter stated that to oppose similar
relief for the rest of the states would smack of hypocrisy and urged him
to ignore the ridiculous demands of the environmental community (which
has remained silent on the issue). Rep. Scott McInnis (R-CO),
called for Daschle to join in reform of the Forest Service's decision
making process, stating that "in one case, a single thinning
project had to go through 800 steps to be approved...and took nearly
three years to work through the...pipeline." Unfortunately, the area was burned to a
crisp by the devastating Hayman fire before work could be started.
Voters need to let Sen. Daschle know that there can be no valid argument
for denying the same protection for Americans everywhere.
Forest
Health Letter to Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle ...
McInnis
Critical of Daschle
Plan to Protect Forest Lands...
What's Good for Daschle
California Coastal Commission Held
Unconstitutional
The powerful, anti-private
property California Coastal Commission has been held unconstitutional by
a California trial court. Over a year ago, on May 8, 2001,
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Charles C. Kobayashi ruled in Marine
Fisheries Society v. California Coastal Commission, that the
composition and activities of the Commission are unconstitutional under
the Separation of Powers provisions in the California Constitution because
the agency is responsible to the Legislature but performs both executive
and quasi-judicial tasks. The Commission is the heavy handed
agency that imposes unreasonable restrictions on coastal landowners such
as requiring easements for public access across private land in order to
receive approval to build (Nollan v. California Coastal Commission).
The decision is on appeal, and if not overturned, will rock the
non-growth concept of the
environmental community.
California
Coastal Commission Held Unconstitutional
Environmentalism Obstructs Military Readiness
On July 9th, General John Keane, vice chief of staff of the Army,
testified before the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public
Works declaring that environmental laws are creating
"formidable" problems. He said: "[A]t Ft. Bragg,
the Army has been ordered to protect all the trees, in which birds might
have or want to have a nest. We have a 250 foot buffer around each
tree. There can be no bivouacking or occupation for more than two
hours at a time, no use of camouflage, no weapons fired other than 7.62
and 50 caliber ammunition....The soldiers can't make noise because it
might offend the birds. Let's get real." The hearing should
have been held in Senate Armed Services Committee, but four
environmental sub-committee chairmen; Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Joseph
Lieberman (D-CT), Bob Graham (D-FL), and Harry Reid (D-NV) argued that because the House had included
provisions to provide relief from environmental restrictions in the
Defense authorization bill, it should be heard in Environmental and
Public Works instead. Jim Jeffords (I-VT) did his part by holding up the
hearings until after the Senate passed the Defense authorization bill,
minus the critical
measures.
Radical
Environmentalist Cut Army Down to Size
Central Park Host to New Species
A new species of centipede has been discovered in Central Park and
NewYorkers seem thrilled over the news. The tiny, four tenths of
an inch creature was discovered living in decomposing debris by folks
from the American Museum of Natural History who were working on a
project to restore the Park's wooded areas. After U.S. scientists
failed to identify the miniscule munchkin, it was sent to Italy where it
was determined to be an entirely new breed of cat, so to speak.
The creature is called Nannarrup hoffmani, for Dr. Richard L. Hoffman of
the Virginia Museum of Natural History, one of the scientists who
couldn't solve the centipede mystery. If declared an endangered
species, a walk in the park may take a lot more planning in the future.
New
Centipede May Live in New York
Turn Out the Lights...
A Loudon County, Virginia,
supervisor introduced a proposal to ban the use of outdoor lights at
night. Labeled as the "Vampire or Kidnappers Enhancement
Act," the proposal would ban security lights in shopping centers,
billboards, lights advertising local businesses, and of course, no
Christmas lights. Elizabeth Alvarez, assistant director of Dark
Sky International says: "We try to teach people when, where and how
much light they should be using for energy and environmental
reasons." These folks claim "light pollution"
causes needless deaths of "billions of moths and other nocturnal
insects" each year and that "increased night lighting
associated with human civilization disrupts important behaviors and
physiological processes with significant ecological consequences."
In
the Dark in Loudoun