Liberty
Matters News Service
May 11, 2006
Bush Considering TNC Chairman for Post
A coalition of free-market-based policy groups has raised the alarm over the possibility President Bush is considering nominating Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Henry Paulson to the post of U. S. Treasury Secretary. The groups are concerned that Paulson's position as Chairman of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) renders him unsuitable for the job. Paulson has come under fire for engineering an "Environmental Policy" for Goldman Sachs that closely resembles the positions of The Nature Conservancy on environmental issues. One of the more controversial issues is Paulson's and TNC's support of the Kyoto Treaty. President Bush has been clear that the United States will not jeopardize its economy by subscribing to unproven global-warming hysteria. In a letter to President Bush the groups pointed out "there are unanswered questions about Mr. Paulson's personal and business ethics. In 2005, Goldman Sachs made a donation of 680,000 acres of land in Chile to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), [a partner of the Nature Conservancy.]" Under questioning by stockholders, Paulson denied TNC was involved in the Chilean land deal, although TNC's 2004 tax return shows a $144,000 consulting fee from Goldman Sachs. Tom Borelli of the Free Enterprise Action Fund said, "You do not want someone serving as a cabinet officer who has a habit of indulging his environmental hobby at the expense of his financial responsibilities."
TNC's Appropriation of Nation's Federal Lands
Over the past several years, the Nature Conservancy, with the blessing of the Bush administration and government agencies, has been quietly acquiring the power to regulate the nation's forests. A March 2001 meeting (the National Fire Roundtable) in Flagstaff, cosponsored by TNC and USDA Forest Service, was organized to discuss ways for TNC, among other things, to tap into federal funding. The meeting was euphemistically termed; "educate Conservancy staff about opportunities available under the National Fire Plan." Congress had added $1.8 billion to the FY 2001 budget to address the issues of out-of-control forest fires. "In July 2004, the Forest Service, the Department of Interior and The Nature Conservancy entered into a 5-year, $5 million cooperative agreement as part of the larger $40 million LANDFIRE project. LANDFIRE data and models will help federal agencies and their partners join forces to conserve biodiversity, reduce wildfire hazards to community and firefighter safety" The U. S. Forest Service has now entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with TNC, giving it authority to assess the vegetation of national forests in Region 3, (Arizona and New Mexico), to interpret old and new data and dictate future forest management consistent with TNC's mission of; "preserving the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive." The MOU is couched in purposely vague and confusing terms, but close examination of Section II of the Work Plan for the Challenge Cost Share Agreement reveals humans may not be welcome in TNC forests. "Ecosystem diversity" and "ecological sustainability" have been identified by USFS as key concepts guiding the development of Forest Plan revisions. "Return intervals for fire, pests and disease outbreaks...are all important components in describing the variation of ecosystems. The overlay of anthropogenic (human) activities within forests represents another type of disturbance that shifts the trajectories (natural curves) and relative proportions of ecosystem types. Managing the proportions of ecosystem types and their trajectories such that forest resources remain viable is the basis for 'ecological sustainability.'" This TNC type of forest management is nothing more than the Wildlands Project in sheep's clothing.
National Fire Roundtable
USFS & TNC $549,113.00 Agreement For
SW Region of USFS
Oversight of the
Forest and Rangeland Research Program of the USDA Forest Service
Arizona National Forests Begin Statewide
Planning Effort
Santa Cruz Residents Seek Pombo's Ouster
Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), House Resource Committee Chairman, has apparently irked some constituents to the point they have drafted a former Republican congressman to run against him. The proposed candidate, Pete McCloskey, an 80-year-old former seven-term congressman from the San Francisco Peninsula, recently moved to Pombo's district to challenge him. McCloskey is being promoted by a 98-year-old Santa Cruz Democrat named Eleanor Wasson. Wasson wants Pombo out because, she says, [he] "is not a desirable congressman." The powerful environmental lobby has Pombo in its sights this year because of his Endangered Species Act reform legislation that passed the House last fall. Environmentalists are particularly offended by the bill's provision to compensate landowners for loss of their property because of ESA regulations. Pombo has also raised socialist eyebrows by proposing to sell off excess federal lands. "McCloskey realized that Pombo really shouldn't be going on with destroying the earth as he is doing," Wasson said. Democrats insist Pombo should go because of his alleged ties to indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). Carl Fogliani, Pombo's campaign spokesman, doesn't consider McCloskey much of a threat, saying [he] is "out of the mainstream of Republican voters throughout the district." Back in the 70s, McCloskey was against the War in Vietnam, started the first Earth Day in 1970, and made the first House speech in 1973 calling for President Nixon's impeachment.
Santa Cruz Joins Fight Against
Property-Rights Republican Pombo