Liberty Matters News Service

June 11, 2003  

Pew Ocean Study Recommends More Regulation

According to a 144 page report by the Pew Oceans Commissions, the oceans are being over-fished and over-used and only large doses of government regulation can rectify the problem. Commission chairman, Leon Panetta, former Democrat Senator from California and Clinton chief of staff, said that it is clear the oceans are in decline and to preserve their bounty for future generations will require a drastic change in management. The report shows that U.S. ocean policy needs changes to protect, maintain and restore the living oceans and calls on Congress to pass a "National Oceans Policy Act," (NOPA). NOPA you can't do this and NOPA you can't do that, in other words. They want to create a federal oceans agency to coordinate the expanded regulations and want Congress and the states to work together to set aside critical habitat and promote smart land use that would, among other things, impose strict rules on animal feeding operations to reduce pollution from water-shed run-off. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), chairman of the House Resource Committee, said the findings were merely an excuse for "bigger government and more regulation." He said Congress passed the Sustainable Fisheries Act in 1996 to help identify and address problems in fisheries management and a new government agency would be counter-productive. Pew Charitable Trusts in 2001 gave $36.6 million to environmental groups including Earth Justice, Wilderness Society, Friends of the Earth and American Rivers, to name just a few.
Oceans Commission Calls for Immediate Reforms
Chairman Richard Pombo disputes fisheries study

Maryland's Smart Growth Program Languishing

So far, the new Maryland governor appears not to share former Governor Parris Glendenning's obsession with smart growth. The new administration is letting the "Governor's Office of Smart Growth" fall apart and it has received "no direction at all" for months, according to John Frece, acting director. With nothing to do, Harriet Tregoning, considered one of the foremost promoters of smart growth in the country and director of the program, tendered her resignation in February. Other agency heads have been fired and Shari Wilson's position of monitoring actions of the Department of Environment to make sure they were consistent with smart growth policies was eliminated. Another casualty was Lauren Wenzel of the Department of Natural Resources whose job was to churn out smart growth propaganda for the public schools. The "Smart Growth" button was even eliminated from the Department of Natural Resources' web site. The governor's Department of Planning denies any plans to do away with Smart Growth, which became state law in 1997. "Everything we do here every day, every way, is Smart Growth," says Planning Secretary Audrey Scott.
Smart Growth Fervor Fades

New Jersey Provides Million$ for No Growth

New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevy signed four bills that will appropriate $47,158,385 in matching grants and loans so local governments and non-profit organizations can take private property off the tax rolls to combat "sprawl" and provide "open space" for future generations. The "Green Acres trust fund" will "save open space and improve parks all over the state. This investment will ensure that these undeveloped tracts of land remain that way-forever," announced Governor McGreevy. 14 million Green Acres bucks are earmarked to upgrade and expand parks; $22 million for local government land acquisition and $11 million to help non-government organizations buy land, including $1.8 million to Natural Lands Trust and The Nature Conservancy. The governor also proposed capital gains tax waivers for landowners who sell their land for conservation purposes and asked for $150 million to preserve open space and farms in the state. The government buy-out program is funded in part by $4 million in federal Land and Water Conservation Fund grants.
McGreevey Signs Legislation Funding Space Projects

Pombo Slams Radical Environmental Lawsuits

"Accountability and Integrity: For everything else, there's the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Earth Justice, Green peace, etc.," according to Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), who blasted environmental lawyers for saddling the taxpayers with tremendous legal bills and believes their practice of over-billing could be regarded as gouging. In fact, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington reduced the fee of a Sierra Club legal defense lawyer to zero as punishment for her flagrant over-billing. The environmentalists' hypocrisy is exposed by the greed of their lawyers who file suits to prevent taxpayers from subsidizing industries and land use that they [environmentalists] abhor. The $3.5 million fee awarded to Sierra Club lawyers after they won a Texas lawsuit involving an endangered salamander illustrates a glaring example of that hypocrisy. Pombo contends that the flaws of the Endangered Species Act have led to the present deplorable conditions. "A flawed law always breeds disrespect for and manipulation of the law," he said. "And that is exactly what we have under the ESA. The species are not being recovered, as the law intended, and taxpayers are being robbed by radical, politically-motivated interest groups. Congress has a responsibility to address and correct this outrage." Some of the abuses cited by Pombo include: 434 radical environmental lawsuits filed in which the taxpayer paid attorney's fees; $70,000 as the average taxpayer-funded award per case for radical environmental lawyers' fees; $3.5 million for the most obscene taxpayer-funded award for radical environmental lawyers' fees; and filing frivolous lawsuits against the United States and getting rich off the American taxpayer - SHAMELESS.

Look At Radical Environment Lawsuits