THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VI, Issue # 241, November 13, 2004
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM & THE "LAME DUCK" CONGRESS:
LEGISLATIVE NIGHTMARES TARGETED FOR PASSAGE
By Peyton Knight
THE LEGISLATIVE AGENDA OF RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS, GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRATS, & THEIR POLITICAL ALLIES IN
THE FORTHCOMING LAME DUCK SESSION OF CONGRESS -- PENDING ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATION WHICH THREATENS
FREEDOM & PROPERTY RIGHTS: A POLITICAL AGENDA THAT MUST BE STOPPED
FULL STORY:
In the midst of all the immediate post-election hoopla, one thing remains certain. Congress will return for a final, end-of-the-year session on
November 15. This is the most dangerous time of the year — a time when bad bills become bad laws, with little fanfare from a
distracted media and populace.
Adding to this dangerous mix is a “lame duck” Congress full of soon-to-be-former Representatives and Senators, eager to strike one
last legislative blow before they pack their bags and leave. In short, this is the time of year when grassroots activists and champions
of liberty must be most vigilant. Their activism is often times all that stands between tragedy and triumph.
Beware the lame duck Congress and beware the following legiislative nightmares that are targeted for passage in the dark of night.
NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS
Heritage Areas are little more than federal zoning schemes. Federal money for Heritage Areas is administered through the National Park
Service to radical "preservation and conservation" (i.e., radical environmentalist) groups that are hell-bent on locking away within the
Heritage Area anything and everything which they see fit to prevent the owners of the private property from using to their economic
advantage. In other words, the National Park Service teams up with local Greens (environmental extremists) to take away your
private property rights. Once an area becomes a Heritage Area, local control over zoning and land use is lost. Period. To read more on
the dangers of Heritage Areas, go to: http://www.americanpolicy.org/prop/natl-landgrab.htm.
These seven disastrous bills have passed the U.S. House of Representatives and are currently awaiting action in the U.S. Senate. It is vital
that property rights and limited government activists contact both of their Senators and tell them to vote NO on any and all National
Heritage Area legislation. Each of the following Heritage Areas would be created in the state of the sponsoring Representative.
H.R. 280: The National Aviation Heritage Area -- sponsored by Rep. David Hobson (R-OH)
H.R. 1862: The Oil Region National Heritage Area -- sponsored by Rep. John Peterson (R-PA)
H.R. 1618: The Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area -- sponsored by Rep. Denise Majette (D-GA)
H.R. 1798: The Upper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area -- sponsored by Rep. Nancy Johnson
H.R. 4492: “To extend the authorization for certain national heritage areas.”
Proponents of Heritage Areas claim that federal funding and oversight is only
temporary. As this bill shows, nothing could be further from the truth. H.R.
4492 would extend federal funding and oversight.
H.R. 4683: The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor -- sponsored by Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC)
H.R. 3257: The Western Reserve Heritage Areas Study Act – sponsored by Tim Ryan (D-OH)
RIM OF THE VALLEY LAND GRAB
The “Rim of the Valley Corridor Study Act” (S. 347) seeks to expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area by adding
a corridor of all the mountains surrounding the San Fernando Valley, La Crescenta Valley, Santa Clarita Valley, Simi Valley and Conejo
Valley in California.
It has already passed the Senate, and could come up for a vote in the House at any time.
This is part of the giant plan promoted by the National Park Service, the Nature Conservancy, and the Wildlands Project -- the plan for
a nationwide series of corridors linking all the parks and forests in the United States. This has the potential for a massive takeover of
National Forest and other federal lands by the Park Service.
You can see a map by going to http://www.landrights.org. This map was produced by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.
They have deliberately tried to hide the full impact of S. 347 by how they have shaded the areas in the map. They call it a corridor but
it actually surrounds huge swaths of land.
Property rights activists must not dismiss this just because it is in California. The “study” area will encompass 491,518 acres. That is
nearly three and a half times the size of the existing Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (which is 153,750 acres) and
over two thirds the size of Yosemite. All of that in an urban area, and over 206,000 of those acres are private property.
S. 347 will put a circle of National Park Service control around tens of thousands of landowners. Anyone familiar with how the National
Park Service works knows that is the beginning of ratcheting down the regulatory controls and land acquisition. They want it all
eventually.
The corridor areas will be like a series of giant nooses put around the necks of the many communities in the encircled areas. Economic
and social activities will be greatly inhibited. Access people now take for granted will be lost forever. Frankly, the National Park
Service has a record of being a very bad neighbor.
The Rim of the Valley land grab would cost over $2 billion, making it the most expensive park in American history.
INVASIVE SPECIES LEGISLATION
If you have foreign weeds, grass, trees, or shrubs on your property (and you most certainly do), you’re in trouble. Under “Invasive
Species” provisions currently sitting in the Senate’s version of the Federal Transportation Bill (S. 1072), your property could quickly
become the target of radical environmentalists and government bureaucrats.
Imagine the Endangered Species Act on steroids. Now multiply its devastating effect on property rights by ten. That should give you
a pretty good idea of what “Invasive Species” legislation will mean for property owners in every state, county, and city in this nation.
“Invasive Species” is the radical Greens’ and international Socialists’ key to controlling every square inch of land in the United States
of America.
This nightmare all began when President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13112 in 1999, creating an “Invasive Species Council” to
monitor and control “alien species.” What are alien species? According to Clinton’s Order, “alien species means, with respect to a
particular ecosystem, any species, including seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that
is not native to that ecosystem.”
Most agricultural crops and animal species clearly fall within the definition of “alien.” Domesticated pets, many houseplants, and
Kentucky bluegrass (used in most lawns and golf courses) would also be defined as alien species. Indeed, this is all the Greens and
their allies in the U.S. federal government need to control most land in the U.S.A.
Think the Invasive Species monster can’t get any worse? It already has. In 2001, the Invasive Species Council issued a management
plan that states: “Council member agencies will work with Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) and other relevant bodies to
expand opportunities to share information, technologies, and technical capacity on the control and management of invasive species
with other countries, promoting environmentally sound control and management practices.”
And just what is the Global Invasive Species Programme? A quick trip to the GISP website reveals it is:
The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
The United Nations Environmental, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
The Convention on Biological Diversity
The Nature Conservancy
The International Union for the Protection of Nature
DIVERSITAS: An International Programme of Biodiversity Science (another UNESCO project)
It’s very easy to see how Invasive Species legislation will open the door to almost total federal and international control over private
property in the United States. And that’s why Greens in the U.S. Senate are trying to sneak it in the Federal Transportation Bill —
without proper debate during a lame duck session.
Both the Senate and the House have already passed their respective versions of the Federal Transportation Bill, and are currently
conferencing to put forth a single bill. Fortunately, the House version of the Federal Transportation Bill does not include any
Invasive Species language. But the Senate version does.
S. 1072 contains provisions that allow for government to control your land using Invasive Species policy. Specifically, it would give
the U.S. Department of the Interior the power to decide which plants, animals, fish, birds, and insects are “invasive.” Once it’s
discovered your property is home to an invasive species, the feds will have all the justification they need to oversee, manage, and
regulate your property.
CONCLUSION
These are the bills that Congress didn’t have the courage to pass before Election Day. Again, when you couple the current
immediate post-electoral distractions with the lame duck status of many sitting Representatives and Senators, you get a get a
perfect storm that produces bad legislation. Now is not the time to be distracted. It is the time to be as persistent and vigilant as
possible.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Peyton Knight is the Executive Director of the American Policy Center, a grassroots, activist think tank headquartered in Warrenton,
Virginia. The Center maintains an Internet website at www.americanpolicy.org.
Copyright 2004 American Policy Center
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba,
Director of Communications,
American Policy Center
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An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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