Liberty
Matters News Service
June 22, 2006
Give Me That Old Green Religion
President Bush looks greener by the day. Bush has nominated outgoing chairman of The Nature Conservancy, Henry Paulson, as U. S. Treasury Secretary, as well as, former Idaho governor Dirk Kempthorne, as Interior Secretary. Kempthorne's public lands philosophy is this: "When there is a conflict between conserving resources unimpaired for future generations and the use of those resources, conservation will be predominant." Bush stunned many conservatives last week when he signed a proclamation creating a new national monument that permanently protects 140,000 square miles of federal waters surrounding ten Hawaiian islands and atolls, stretching 1,400 miles. The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands monument is more than 100 times larger than Yosemite National Park and larger than 46 of the 50 U. S. states. "With the stroke of a pen", said Jay Nelson of the Pew Charitable Trusts, "President Bush has created the largest no-take marine reserve in the world." Bush proudly announced the U. S. government will prohibit unauthorized ship passage in the area, unauthorized recreational or commercial activity, resource extraction and there will soon be no commercial fishing allowed. The monument includes Midway Island where thousands of U. S. military men fought to preserve the nation's sovereignty in WWII.
Bush's New Green Thumb
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Proclaimed
National Monument
Kelo Survivors to be Evicted
New London City Council members voted 5-2 earlier this month, to seize and demolish the homes of Susette Kelo and Michael Cristofaro nearly a year after the U. S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against private property owners. The mayor and City Council rejected a compromise offered by Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell that would have moved Cristofaro's house near Ms. Kelo's place and built the development around them. The City said no because that would have meant Cristofaro and Kelo would regain their deeds and legal control of their properties. Mayor Elizabeth Sabilia said: "[W]hat is not an option is returning the deed to the former owners." Scott Bullock, a lawyer with the Institute of Justice that represents the New London homeowners said of the vote; "[I]t was thumbing their nose at the governor and at the nation. No city government should put their citizens through this for the benefit of private developers." Kelo petitioner Matt Dery agreed to move out before the vote but only because his 88 year-old-mother, who was born in the house at 28 East Street, died in March. Dery said he didn't "settle" with the city voluntarily and would stay if he could. "We don't have a choice," he said. "We are on the end of somebody's boot."
Last Stand for Property Rights
Supreme Court Rules on Wetlands Cases
The Supreme Court announced on Monday, in a 5-4, decision, that the Army Corps of Engineers had overstepped its authority in two Michigan wetlands cases. Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion stated the only wetlands that fall under federal jurisdiction are those "with a continuous connection" to actual waterways. These are the only bodies of water that come within the statute's reference to 'the waters of the United States,'" he wrote. Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked the Corps for ignoring its decision in Solid Waste Agency v U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in which the Court ruled the Corps had exceeded its authority under 404 (a) of the Clean Water Act. "Rather than refining its view of its authority in light of our decision," he said, "the Corps chose to adhere to its essentially boundless view of the scope of its power. The upshot today is another defeat for the agency." Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was also with the majority in the Cook County case in 2001, sided with the majority here to "vacate and remand" the cases back to the lower court. His opinion stated that only wetlands and tributaries that have a "significant nexus" to waters of the U. S. may be federally regulated. Reed Hopper, attorney for the Pacific Legal Foundation, representing John Rapanos, who has long been persecuted by the federal government for two decades, praised the decision. "Today's decision is a victory for balanced environmental protection… The Court has repudiated overreaching by the federal government."
Court Splits Over Wetlands
Protection
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects
Unlimited Federal Control of Wetlands
Kelo Decision Spawns Land Grab Spree
In a just-released report, the Institute of Justice reveals that in the year since the infamous Supreme Court's Kelo decision, city governments have taken advantage of the high court's ruling to seize a record number of private properties in the name of economic development. The report said; "The court ruled that the U. S. Constitution allows government to use eminent domain to take and bulldoze existing homes and businesses for new private commercial development, holding that the mere possibility that a different private use could produce more taxes or jobs is enough reason for condemnation." Institute of Justice attorney Dana Berliner's report, "Opening the Floodgates: Eminent Domain Abuse in the Post-Kelo World, says since the Kelo decision 5,783 properties nationwide have been either seized or threatened with seizure under eminent domain. That figure dwarfs the 10,281 eminent domain seizures that occurred in the five-year period from 1998 to 2002. Ms. Berliner's report indicates that the vast majority of the property seizures have targeted lower-income residents and smaller businesses to make room for upscale development that will attract the wealthy and provide more tax dollars.