Liberty Matters News Service
March 4, 2003
PropertyRights.org
Goes Live
PropertyRights.org
was launched today as a brand new website dedicated entirely to private
property and landowner rights. The
new site is the result of a grant given by the Scarborough-Linebery
Foundation out of Midland, Texas and is free to the public.
The site will be updated on a daily basis with legislative
information, current events and alerts.
To access the new site, go to www.propertyrights.org.
The site has issue papers written specifically for the use of
private property owners and has a searchable database covering topics
from endangered species to wetlands and everything in between
(eventually, there will be thousands of documents to search in the
database). To stay on top
of the issues, have access to information not available anywhere else
and to be in the know, go to propertyrights.org. on a daily basis.
Faith Based
Initiative Promotes Land Acquisition
Tucked
inside the President’s Faith Based Initiative, S. 256 - the CARE Act
of 2003, is a section that gives conservation organizations and
government entities an unfair advantage in acquiring private property. The President states his purpose for the bill is to “level
the playing field for community and faith-based organizations that
provide effective social services to our fellow citizens who are in
need.” Yet, sections
106–108 single out conservation organizations and allow donors a 25%
reduction in long term capital gains for property they sell to these
select groups for conservation purposes.
How does this help feed the poor, clothe the low income, or
promote the well being of American citizens?
It accomplishes the exact opposite by making it easier for
environmentalists to take more private property off the tax roles and
out of production. It also allows unfair competition to other buyers in the free
market system. CARE has
already passed the Senate Committee on Finance and will next be voted on
the floor of the Senate. Call,
write, fax or email your Senators and request that sections 106-108 be
removed from S. 256. A
letter you can send has been posted at www.propertyrights.org
in the “Take Action” section. From here you can email your Senators
directly.
S.
256
S.
256
(see sections 106-108)
Sample
Letter to send to your senator
Sample
Letter to send to your senator
Sample
Letter to send to your senator
Enviro Groups Cry Foul Over Omnibus Riders
Environmental groups are complaining that
Republicans played dirty pool with the bloated 2003 Omnibus Spending
bill that was finally passed last week.
Topping the complaint list was the Stewardship Contracting
provision that expands authority of the Forest Service and establishes
new authority for the Bureau of Land Management to contract with private
industry to remove dead and diseased trees to efficiently improve the
health of national forests. Sara
Zbed of Friends of the Earth calls it: “[A] blatant handout to the timber industry.”
Alaska Republican Ted Stevens slipped in a rider that “prevents
administrative appeals and judicial review of the Forest Service’s
pending decision on how far to expand protection of the Tongass National
Forest.” Even Democrats
joined the environmental rider bandwagon.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), stuck in a provision that would allow
the Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with draining Devil’s Lake in
North Dakota to alleviate flooding without going through a time
consuming cost benefit analysis process.
Money allocated for land conservation dropped by $119 million and
land conservation funding in the Farm Bill was removed to help pay for
the $3.1 billion drought assistance program.
Federal and state land acquisition funding remained high,
however, as the Land and Water Conservation Fund received $413 million
for fiscal 2003.
Budget
Riders Set Anti-Environmental Policies
2003
Appropriations Bill
2004 Budget Draws
Criticism
Senate Democrats are seeing red over spending
cuts for land purchases and preservation in the 2004 budget. Money for the Interior Department’s land acquisition fund
would drop by $147 million to $187 million under the Bush proposal.
The National Park Service would receive $239 million for land
acquisition in 2004, down $47 million and the Bureau of Land Management
would see its land purchase funds drop $21 million, to $24 million.
All this prompted Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) to brand the
proposals “reckless.” “This budget may be a stark example of the poorest
stewardship policy I have seen.”
She demanded that Interior use oil and gas royalties to purchase
more land (CARA-like). Secretary
of Interior Gale Norton disagreed.
During testimony at a senate hearing, Secretary Norton said:
“It is irresponsible for us to keep buying more land.
We already own one out of every five acres in the country.”
She went on to add that before the government buys more land it
must learn to take care of what it already controls.
Democrats
Blast Bush Plan to Cut Land Purchases
Groups Demand UN
Designate Biosphere Reserve in Chicago
A
gaggle of 160 government agencies, non-government organizations and
environmental groups are demanding that the UN declare 200,000 acres
surrounding Chicago, encompassing ten different counties from
southeastern Wisconsin to northeastern Indiana, a Biosphere Reserve to
protect the “Chicago Wilderness.”
The leader of the “Chicago Wilderness” organization,
Elizabeth McCance, wants the United Nations Education, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to protect ecosystems.
“There is a surprising number of high qualities habitats in the
Chicago area.” She stated
she has “no idea how large it [the Biosphere] will be.”
Stephanie Fulk of Chicago Wilderness said “We are recognizing
natural resources here in an urban environment.”
Illinois private property owners had best beware.
Chicago
Biosphere Reserve Considered