THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 68, May 1, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
LANDOWNERS' COALITION DEMANDS REPEAL OF ESA
By Tom DeWeese, Dan Byfield, & Magaret Hage Byfield
POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM & THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT VERSUS PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS & ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT: THE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT AS A POWERFUL TOOL, USED BY POLITICAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS
SEEKING TO STOP ANY USE OF CERTAIN PRIVATELY OWNED LANDS FOR ANY PURPOSE -- A COALITION OF LANDOWNERS
URGES THE U.S. CONGRESS TO REPEAL THE ESA & THEREBY REMOVE THIS SERIOUS THREAT TO AMERICAN
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT, FREE ENTERPRISE, PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS, INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY, & ECONOMIC
GROWTH
FULL STORY:
“Fed up” landowners have said “enough” to feeble efforts by Congress to “fix” the Endangered Species Act (ESA). That’s
why a coalition of property rights groups, led by the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range, the American Policy
Center, Liberty Matters, and the PFUSA Grange have now gathered more than 6,300 signatures to a letter calling for repeal of
the ESA.
The letter is being delivered to U.S. Senator James Inhofe (Republican - Oklahoma), Chairman of the Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works. His committee will soon consider legislation to “update” and “improve” the ESA.
The U.S. House of Representatives has already passed the Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act (TESRA). The
U.S. Senate is considering a bill sponsored by Senator Mike Crapo (Republican - Idaho) called the Collaboration and
Recovery of Endangered Species Act (CRESA). While the House version makes at least a weak attempt to compensate
landowners when the ESA is invoked, the Senate version offers nothing for them. Both bills confirm the worst fears of
landowners about how serious Congress is to actually addressing the real problems of the ESA.
Since its enactment in 1973, the ESA has penalized landowners unlucky enough to have an endangered species on their land.
Farmers, ranchers, tree farmers, homeowners, and others who harbor endangered species or habitat on their property are
subjected to severe land-use restrictions that can lead to economic ruin.
“Rather than a solution to helping endangered species, the ESA has become a very powerful tool, used by radical
environmentalists who want to stop literally any use of certain lands for any purpose,” said Dan Byfield, President of the
American Land Foundation of Taylor, Texas. “The entire community of Klamath Falls, Oregon, was literally chocked to death,
as its water supply was shut off to protect a sucker fish that isn’t endangered,” said Byfield.
Yet, as Coalition leaders point out, all of the pain caused by the ESA to landowners is really for nothing, as far as endangered
species are concerned. “In the 33 years since the ESA has been on the books, just 34 of the nearly 1,300 U.S. species listed
have made their way off of the endangered list,” said Margaret Hage Byfield, Executive Director of Stewards of the Range
based in Idaho. “Of this number,” she continued, “9 species are now extinct, 14 appear to have been improperly listed in the
first place, and just 9 (.6% of all species listed) have recovered.” Concluded Hage, “that’s a 99% failure rate that proves the
ESA is nothing more than a powerful tool for special interests groups to promote their political agenda.”
These are the reasons why the coalition is calling for outright repeal of the ESA. “There is only one valid answer to this
outrageous situation,” said Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center, Warrenton, Virginia. The answer:
“Repeal the ESA and, if necessary, start over.”
To that end, the coalition has generated more than 6,300 signatures for the letter to Senator Inhofe to demand repeal of the
ESA . These signatures aren’t from members of rich and powerful lobbying groups. They are from the landowners, business
owners, and community leaders who are suffering from the ESA.
In part, the letter says:
“Congress needs to revisit the wisdom of the Founding
Fathers, who believed the ownership of property must
be secured from government intervention for liberty to
exist. Take that security away through environmental
laws like the ESA, and not only is liberty not secure, it
no longer exists. You have only to look at the past 30
years since the enactment of the ESA to see what it has
produced – the dramatic destruction of property rights
and the failure to recover species.”
Appealing to the U.S. Congress to take a stand for property owners, Dan Byfield said:
“Landowners need heroes to stand for us and protect
our private property. It’s time to listen to us for a
change.”
“In this day when Americans have come to understand the horrors of widespread government abuse of eminent domain,
such as in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision, we should rightly fear the creation of a new ESA that could best be
called Kelo 2,” concluded Tom DeWeese.
The coalition maintains an Internet website at www.repealesa.us, where the full
letter may be viewed and signed.
The foregoing website states:
"The Endangered Species Act has cost
landowners their security and livelihoods. It has
cost taxpayers an estimated 3.5 billion dollars
each year to implement. The economy has lost
revenue as entire communities have been
destroyed. The result is increased prices for food,
lumber, housing, fuel and other necessities.
"Yet, in the 33 years since the law was passed,
less than one percent of the 1,304 threatened
and endangered species listed have been
recovered. Only six percent are considered
improving. Three-quarters of those de-listed are
the result of “data error” meaning simple counting
mistakes have run hard-working Americans out of
business and off their land.
"Environmentalists want to keep the law in place
because it allows them to control millions of
acres of private property without paying for that
right. Until Congress repeals the ESA, stealing
American’s land and destroying their livelihoods
will continue to be lawful under the Endangered
Species Act."
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Civil Liberties -- Private Property Rights
Tom DeWeese is the Publisher and Editor of The DeWeese Report and President of the American Policy Center, a
grassroots activist think tank headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia. The Center maintains an Internet website at
www.americanpolicy.org.
Dan Byfield is Founder and President of the American Land Foundation, a private non-profit organization dedicated to the
protection and preservation of American constitutional principles, free enterprise, private property rights, and individual
liberty.
Mr. Byfield is the writer and producer of two television video productions documenting the effects of environmental laws
on individual freedoms and uses of land in the U.S.A. The videos are (1) "Who Owns the Land? When the Environment
Collides with the Constitution" and (2) "Standing Ground: People, Property, and Power." Both have been shown on
national cable TV, including PBS, receiving a communications award for effectiveness.
Byfield is also President of Liberty Matters, a grassroots news service and informational network dedicated to
protecting the constitutional principles of America's Founding Fathers.
Dan Byfield is a graduate of the University of Texas, where he earned a journalism degree with a specialization in public
relations, and has a law degree from South Texas College of Law in Houston.
Margaret Hage Byfield is Executive Director of Stewards of the Range, a national property and constitutional rights
organization headquartered in Boise, Idaho. Under her leadership and direction, Stewards of the Range has grown from
a small grassroots group into an influential national organization with over 6,000 members.
Ms. Byfield recently helped launch the Natural Rights Library, a property rights resource catalogue. She serves as Editor
of Cornerstone, a national newspaper on property rights.
Formally educated at Albertson's College of Idaho, Ms. Byfield received a Bachelor of Arts in English and Music in 1989.
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