Liberty
Matters News Service
July 10, 2003
Pombo Gets Under Skin of Environmentalists
California Republican Richard Pombo has been using the power of his office to
sound off on "radical environmentalists," an approach that has some in the
movement huffing and puffing with indignation. His press releases have gained
momentum since early June when he launched a broadside against the Southern
Appalachian Biodiversity Project for filing "frivolous, politically motivated
lawsuits." "I have never seen a law so abused in the name of a good cause," he
said. Next, he blasted the left wing League of Conservation Voters for giving
President Bush an "F" on the environment and, in another release, Pombo
chastised the Pew Ocean Commission for exaggerating problems they said existed
along the nation's coasts. Marty Hayden of Sierra Club's Earthjustice
criticized Pombo for using tactics usually reserved for environmental groups.
"If anyone disagrees with you or has a different point of view, you demonize
them and label them as extremists," he said. Pombo says he is merely trying to
counter the environmentalist's accusations that Republicans are
anti-environment. "The truth is, everyone cares about the environment."
Pombo Attacks Conservation Groups
East Coast Getting a Taste of Wildlands Visions
The "Highlands Coalition," an
organization of 100 private and public groups, wants control over 2 million
acres of public and private land that stretches from northwestern Connecticut
through New York, New Jersey and into Pennsylvania. "The goals of the coalition
are to buy land, educate landowners on managing their properties and lobby for
improved regulations on development to connect large protected blocks of open
space and create a contiguous four-state corridor valuable to wildlife and
people." Backers have convinced some in the U.S. House and Senate to sponsor
legislation creating the Highlands Stewardship Area in order to funnel millions
of taxpayer dollars into the land grab scheme. The bill calls for spending $25
million a year for 10 years for land conservation and $2 million a year to help
landowners and municipalities deal with the fallout. The New Jersey Builders
Association and the National Association of Home Builders are adamantly opposed
to the boondoggle. Stephen H. Shaw, representing the Home Builders, told a
congressional hearing that denying landowners' development rights would lead to
severe housing shortages and would lead to more federal meddling in local
affairs. "Building a house in New Jersey now requires the builder to go through
about 150 permit programs and there is adequate protection for water supplies
and other environmental concerns." A Forest Service report indicated that 5,000
acres of open space were lost each year and more development would further
degrade the environment. Mr. Shaw dismissed the conclusions as "replete with
assumptions and generalities."
A Wildlife
Corridor, Green But Imperiled
What a Surprise, Nature is Resilient
Environmentalists at the
Ruffner Mountain Nature Center near Birmingham, Alabama, were recently
dumb-founded to discover abundant aquatic and amphibian life in a red pond they
had long-ago dismissed as "a biological desert." The astounded biologists
identified salamanders, tadpoles and toads living in a pond that had been used
as a settling pond for iron ore mines in the area a half-century ago. They
discovered a brilliantly colored variety of fairy shrimp that are able to
survive severe drought conditions as their eggs lie dormant until rains again
bring life to the pond. Naturalist Alan Yester was impressed by proof of
nature's resiliency. "Things might not be as messed up as we thought," he said.
Along the same vein, an Arizona Tribune editorial expressed impatience with
extreme environmentalists for continuing to wail about a species, in this case,
the southwestern willow flycatcher, as the "canary in the coal mine." The
editor says this "claptrap has been repeated so many times by
pseudo-ecologists... [that it] has no basis in science. It is so obviously
bogus we marvel at its shelf-life." The Southwestern Center for Biological
Diversity wants the Salt River Project, a water board, to replicate flycatcher
habitat if it (SRP) fills its drying reservoirs where the birds are currently
living. The editorial opines that if it is affordable to save their habitat, do
it, but the world will not cease to spin on its axis if the birds move
elsewhere.
Pond
Once Viewed As Waste Brims With Life
If Bird Must Move, The
World's Not Going To End
Environmentalists Sued
Pacific Lumber Co. has a
message for anti-logging activists; if you choose to trespass and disrupt
legitimate business operations, you will be sued. In the past two years, it has
sued more than 110 people for unlawfully interfering with its business, going
after heavy civil penalties against the lawbreakers. The anti-logging crowd
says the suits are an attempt to discourage activism. "They're trying to
intimidate people to stop any type of public participation," said Jeny Card, a
tree-sitter who was arrested and sued for $250,000. Another defendant, Jeanette
Junger, is fearful of losing her home because of a $335,000 suit against her.
University of Colorado law professor George W. Pring criticized Pacific's
methods. Pring said the lawsuits are "huge winners outside of the courtroom in
terms of silencing people (and) muzzling protests, which is why the lumber
companies use them." The Card suit ended with a $10 fine and plea bargain,
which Jim Branham, Pacific Lumber's spokesman said, "…will lead to the
company pursuing civil suits more aggressively if criminal penalties amount to
a slap on the wrist."
Lumber Firm Taking
Tree-Sitters To Court