Latest CLEAR View on Takings and ESA Legislation
12/9/97
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Latest CLEAR View on Takings and ESA Legislation
Source: CLEAR
Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research
1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20009
tel. 202-667-6982 = fax 202-232-2592
e-mail: clear@ewg.org = www: http://www.ewg.org
Status: Distribute freely with proper credit given to source
Date: 12/9/97
A CLEAR View
Volume 4, Number 16
December 9, 1997
In this issue of A CLEAR View, we offer environmental backlash
news concerning "takings" and ESA legislation, lawsuits, new alliances
and more. If you need help fighting fiction, check out our resource
section to learn more about EWG's new report on global warming
and the Center for Campus Organizing's revised guide to tracking
the right on college campuses.
Table of Contents
*1 Backlash Fights American Rivers Heritage Initiative
*2 "Takings" Legislation Topic of Realtors' Conference
*3 Arctic Power Targets Senators
*4 Kempthorne Vows ESA Action
*5 Suit to Stop Conservation Proposal Stops Short
*6 Press Briefing Attempts to Debunk Global Warming
*7 Alston Chase Speaks At Penn State
*8 Sanera Heads New Center
*9 PFW! Forges New Alliances
*10 Legal Foundation Sues Over Utah Monument
*11 Anti-U.N. Group Pushes Clinton Impeachment
*12 Food Libel Case Up for Trial
Resources
*13 New EWG Report on Global Warming
*14 Book Tracks Right Wing on Campus
*1 Backlash Fights American Rivers Heritage Initiative
Despite furious lobbying throughout the summer, backlash
stalwarts such as Congressman Helen Chenoweth (R-ID)
could not derail the Clinton Administration from signing
into law the American Rivers Heritage Initiative in August
(see ACV Vol. 4 No. 12). At that point, most would have
assumed that private property rights activists would have
given up the fight. Recent backlash activity, however, shows
that they have not thrown in the towel but are hurriedly
lining up local communities to rebut federal action.
As in the original lobbying efforts, the group Liberty Matters
(LM) is leading the renewed push by making available its tools
and resources. Information from their faxback system details
a step-by-step plan on how individual activists can keep their
community and local waterway out of the program. Activists
have been told to write members of Congress and collect
signatures from elected officials and property owners who
oppose the initiative. LM also provides copies of the
"Application for Exclusion" that must be mailed to the
Council on Environmental Quality by December 10 to stop
any designation by the White House.
Some communities have already been successful in making
known their opposition to the initiative. In October, the
board of directors of the Montana Association of Counties
voted overwhelmingly to oppose the inclusion of Montana's
rivers in the initiative. Other communities have removed
their waterway from federal consideration. One is Henrico
County, VA, which is home to the James River, one of the
rivers targeted for federal protection. Leading the fight to
exclude the Middle and North Concho rivers from
designation is Mike Brown, county commissioner in Tom
Green, TX, and a local judge. Brown labeled the program "a
blatant grab by environmental socialists to take away private
property rights."
Private property rights advocates have used highly charged
rhetoric and black helicopter paranoia to rally opposition to
not only the American Rivers Heritage Initiative but to other
conflicts relating to government action and local land use. In
the past, CLEAR has documented several instances of private
property rights advocates disrupting public meetings. The
most recent instance occurred in October when an individual
or group threatened five Paoli, Indiana commissioners after
they voted in favor of the town's first ever zoning
regulations. Five of the seven local planning commission
members received death threats after voting. According to
news accounts, the leader of the opposition, Russell Caplinger,
said he had heard of the threats but had no knowledge of the
actions. Adding to the tension in the area, Caplinger railed
against the zoning plan, calling it an infringement on
Constitutional rights and equating the plan to communism.
According to the town manager, a supporter of the zoning
regulations, the rules are not some insidious plot to strip
landowners of their rights but necessary to control local
growth. The FBI is investigating the matter.
(Source: Liberty Matters/Alliance for America "News
Advisory" 10/20/97, _The New-Dispatch_ 11/2/97)
*2 "Takings" Spoken Here
Legislation pending before the U.S. Congress will help
safeguard private property rights and will give property
owners and developers relief from administrative regulations
that currently limit or threaten these rights, according to
attendees of The National Association of Realtors' Annual
Convention and Trade Showon Nov 17. Nearly 18,000
Realtors and guests attended the conference. The NAR is the
largest professional association in America with nearly 720,000
members.
The legislation being supported by NAR is the Private
Property Rights Legislative Act of 1997 (H.R. 1534), which
cleared the U.S. House of Representatives this fall. The
Senate version has yet to pass. Speaking on behalf of the
legislation, Brian Blaesser, an attorney from Mass., told the
attendees that the measure will help level the imbalance
caused by over-regulation and cumbersome use restrictions.
The forum also featured Tod Neuenschwander of the
environmental consulting firm McClure Gerard &
Neuenschwander, Inc., Washington, D. C. Neuenschwander,
who is legislative director for the National Endangered
Species Act Reform Coalition, discussed reform of the
Endangered Species Act pending before Congress. He pushed
the proposed legislation, H.R. 1180 and its companion Senate
version, by saying it would simplify the process of listing
endangered species. (Press Release NAR, Nov. 17) For more
information on "takings", contact Glenn Sugameli at the
National Wildlife Federation: SUGAMELI@nwf.org
*3 Arctic Power Targets Senators
A business front group based in Alaska is paying a
Washington, DC area consulting firm to target Louisiana's
Democratic Senators Mary Landrieu and John Breaux to
"educate" them about the benefits of oil drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. Arctic Power, a coalition of oil and
related businesses formed by the state itself, enlisted the help
of Decision Management for the public relations battle.
Executive Director Cam Toohey must hope to capitalize on
the ties of DMI's partners: George Burger is the former
political director of the Democratic National Committee while
Brian Lunde is a former DNC executive director. The
campaign is in response to aggressive campaigning by
environmentalists to ensure that the Senators oppose the
opening of ANWR for oil development. (Washington
Representatives, _The Washington Post_ 10/30/97)
*4 Kempthorne Vows ESA Action
Sen. Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID) has pledged to push his bill to
"reform" the Endangered Species Act during the next
congressional session while campaigning in the Idaho
gubernatorial race. The bill passed the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee with bipartisan and White
House support, and it has won the endorsement of timber,
mining, ranching, and agricultural interests.
But many environmentalists will be working to block the
measure. Defenders of Wildlife predicted the measure will
have "a tougher time" moving during the election year.
Meanwhile, some property rights advocates, who contend the
bill would give small property owners inadequate protection
from ESA regulation, say Kempthorne should "focus his
energies" on the governor's race. (Source: Fredreka
Schouten, _Boise Idaho Statesman_, 11/21; Greenwire 11-25-
97)
*5 Suit to Stop Conservation Proposal Stops Short
Two anti-environmental groups filed suit to stop a proposed
conservation area in California. The Citizens for Private
Property Rights (CPPR) and the San Diego Off-Road Coalition
filed an appeal October 2 against the San Diego Planning
Commission's recommendation that the Board of
Supervisors approve the Multiple Species Conservation
Program.
The proposal, which would set aside 172,000 acres of habitat
for 87 sensitive species of plants and animals, has raised the
ire of property rights and off-road activists. Jack Gibson,
president of CPPR, believes there are ulterior motives behind
the bill. He claims "certain environmental extremists are
pushing for abolishing private property and driving our
county to a socialistic-communistic state" and subverting
constitutionally guaranteed protections. Not so, according to
Robert Asher, chief of resource planning for the planning
department. He says attorneys who reviewed the proposal
deemed it consistent with the Fifth Amendment.
No court date has been set because, according to Asher, the
commission was acting in an advisory capacity and did not
issue any new rules. The groups cannot file an appeal to a
recommendation. Thus the documents and the filing fee
were returned. (Source: _San Diego Daily Transcript_
10/2/97).
*6 Group Debunks Global Warming Over Breakfast
The Media Research Center invited reporters to a November
25 press briefing on global warming to discuss what impact, if
any, human activity has on the planet. The breakfast was held
at the National Press Club. To "discuss" this topic were long-
time science skeptics S. Fred Singer of the Science and
Environmental Policy Project and Fred Smith of the industry
funded, anti-regulatory think tank the Competitive Enterprise
Institute.
The center bills itself as a "media watchdog" organization that
monitors press coverage on major issues. According to _The
Washington Times_, the center believes the public has been
"hoodwinked" into believing that global warming is a threat.
Singer is a longtime critic of environmental science. He has
criticized what he calls the politicization of science by interest
groups and the scare tactics being used to hinder debate on
climate change issues. In testimony before the House and in
subsequent op-eds, Singer claimed that "science skeptics" were
being actively silenced by a cabal of environmentalists, liberal
journalists, and federal authorities. He also claimed that
many scientists are more critical of global warming but are
afraid of speaking out for fear of losing their research grants.
(Source: _The Washington Times_ 11/21/97)
*7 Alston Chase To Speak at Penn State
Backlash author Alston Chase will speak on natural resource
management December 9 at the Penn State University School
of Forest Resources. He currently is a visiting senior fellow in
Natural Resource Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy
School of Government leading seminars on the Endangered
Species Act and the media and the environment.
Chase is bringing his anti-environmental message to
Pennsylvania courtesy of The Glatfelter Pulp Wood Company
in Spring Grove. Chase's books include _Playing God in
Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National
Park_ and _In a Dark Wood: The Fight Over Forests and the
Rising Tyranny of Ecology_.
*8 Anti-Enviro Ed Project Announced
Environmental education backlasher Michael Sanera will
oversee a new Tucson-based project that will "combat...the
unbalanced, distorted presentation of environmental issues in
American schools." The Environmental Education Resource
Center (EERC) -- founded by the Center for the New West, a
Denver think tank -- seeks to ensure that children receive
information that is, in the words of president of the Center for
the New West Philip Burgess, "balanced and based in sound
science and economics."
Sanera, formerly with the Claremont Institute, a California
based think tank dedicated to promoting limited government,
founded the Barry Goldwater Institute for Public Policy
Research in 1988 in Phoenix. He is author of the education
backlash tract _Facts Not Fear_ with Political Economy
Research Center senior associate Jane Shaw. According to
_The Tucson Citizen_, the Center for the New West has
received corporate support from America West Airlines,
Arizona Public Service, Tucson Electric Power Co., Lucent
Technologies, US West, Phelps Dodge Corp., and the Western
Fuels Association. (Source: _The Tucson Citizen_ 10/9/97).
*9 PFW! Cements New Alliances
People for the West! announced its recent affiliation with a
handful of grassroots backlash activist organizations. In a
November fundraising letter, PFW! proudly crowed about
new alliances with United Four Wheel Drive Associations,
Pennsylvania Landowners Association, White River Land
Users, and Promoting Our Original Resource among others.
This announcement comes on the heels of a bitter struggle
within the backlash community to impede the co-optation by
PFW! of legitimate grassroots operations. PFW! has
undergone a stealthy campaign to mask its corporate ties in
recent months. In April of this year, PFW! announced that
Liz Arnold would become the Chair of the Board by filling the
seat vacated by Bob Quick, a lobbyist for ASARCO. Arnold, a
homemaker who joined PFW! in 1994 and quickly moved up
the ladder to serve as the Nevada state representative, gives
the group an outward appearance of a "people's movement"
while the industry ties are pushed to the background.
Yet PFW! cannot seem to get out of industry's shadow.
Grumbling among prominent activists became public in
January 1997 when backlash columnist Alston Chase used a
Chuck Cushman fax alert to describe PFW!'s "merger" tactics.
Chase's column, run in The _Detroit News_ article (1/2/97),
discussed PFW!'s "merger" with the Western States Coalition,
a group of local western and primarily rural lawmakers.
Chase's column was preceded by a PFW! announcement that
Bruce Vincent, president of the Alliance for America, was
given a seat on PFW!'s board.
Cushman, Ron Arnold of the Center for Defense of Free
Enterprise and other grassroots leaders were highly critical of
the mergers saying that this allowed environmentalists and
others to dismiss the movement as a front for business. In
fact, PFW!'s board of directors is still dominated by mining
interests with representatives from Chevron, Independence
Mining, and Placer Dome on it. Also, PFW! received funding
from FMC Gold Corp, Battle Mountain Gold, and BP Minerals
among others. With the recent announcement of more
additions to the PFW! family, it looks as if the lure of money
and resources that PFW! can provide to cash-starved
grassroots organizations is more valuable that maintaining
their legitimate grassroots credentials. (PFW! fundraising
letter, _Detroit News_ 1/2/97)
*10 Legal Foundation Sues Over Utah Monument
The Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) has filed a suit
challenging the Utah monument designation. This legal
challenge piggy backs two other suits recently filed by the Utah
Association of Counties and the Utah School and Institutional
Trust Lands Administration.
Unlike the other suits, the MSLF claims that a secret, behind-
closed doors, conspiracy was undertaken by the Interior
Department to formulate the designation. This planning
committee, MSLF claims, is illegal.
(Source: Greenwire 11/7/97)
*11 Anti-U.N. Group Pushes Clinton Impeachment
One of the organizations under the umbrella of the anti-
United Nations group Sovereignty International has mailed a
letter urging for the impeachment of President Clinton. The
group, the American Sovereignty Action Project (ASAP), is a
project of the Citizens United Foundation, a government
watchdog group that monitors and reports on "scandals" and
has been a loud and frequent critic of the Clinton White
House.
Much of the impeachment evidence cited by the group is
President Clinton's supposed violation of "his sworn
constitutional duty" as Commander in Chief. ASAP's main
complaint is that Clinton has allowed American armed forces
to serve under a United Nation's command. As an example,
ASAP points to the refusal of soldier Michael New to wear the
uniformed cap of a U.N. The U.S. court marshaled New who
then became a darling of the militia and U.N. conspiracy
factions. (Source: The Right Guide 95)
*12 Food Libel Revisited
A January trial date has been scheduled for a lawsuit filed by
several Texas cattlemen who say their industry was defamed
on the Oprah Winfrey show. The lawsuit filed by cattleman
Paul Engler and several other producers claims the 1996
program on "mad cow" disease violated a Texas law that
establishes liability if false information is put out about a
perishable food product. Engler claims that cattle prices
dropped severely after the program addressing the question of
whether "mad cow" disease was a threat in the United States.
He alleges his company lost $7 million. A spokesman for
Oprah Winfrey, David Margulies, says she plans to attend the
trial, which attorneys say could last three to six weeks.
(Reprinted from UPI Central US) For more on the topic, read
John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton's book Mad Cow Disease:
Could the Nightmare Happen Here? Contact:
stauber@compuserve.com
Resources, Tools and Strategies for Activists
*13 New EWG Report on Global Warming
The international community will meet this December to set
targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions. A new EWG
report, called "Blind Spot: The Big Three's Attack on the
Global Warming Treaty," shows that increasing fuel efficiency
standards could decrease emissions by 36 million tons per
year, more than half the amount needed to reach 1990 levels
which is the position of the United States. Not surprisingly,
automakers are opposed to these efforts and have resisted any
changes in the corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFE)
standards. The same arguments used by the automakers to
successfully block an increase of CAFE have been used time
and again in efforts to stop seat belts, turn signals, air bags, and
fuel emission guidelines.
The Blind Spot report is the first in a series of work that the
Environmental Working Group is incorporating into a larger
project with its own web site
tml>. EWG's new Chicken Little site debuted November 20,
1997 to catalogue industry misinformation on environmental
and safety regulations. See for yourself what the auto
executives and their lobbyists have said about seatbelts, air
bags, and the Clean Air Act among other issues. Please check
back often as more information will be added to the site.
*14 Book Tracks Right Wing on Campus
A revised edition of the book Uncovering the Right On
Campus was issued by the Center for Campus Organizing
(formerly the University Conversion Project). The book
tracks and exposes the growing network of the right and the
personalities, organizations, and financial resources that have
helped its growth.
Among the institutions profiled in the report are familiar to
environmental backlash followers: the Sarah Scaife
Foundation, the new Coors family foundation Castle Rock
Foundation, John M. Olin Foundation, Eagle Forum,
Federalist Society, and the Center for the Study of Popular
Culture whose legal arm, the Individual Rights Foundation,
was embroiled in the quixotic "rebellion" in Nye County,
Nevada. Copies of the report are available for $9.00 by calling
CCO at 617-354-9363.
For additional information on any of the organizations or
individuals mentioned above, contact CLEAR.
Contributors:
Sara Savitt, Editor
Dan Barry, CLEAR Director
Allison Daly, Grassroots Coordinator
Mike Shelhamer, Research Assistant
Permission to repost by electronic means (or reproduce in
other media) all or part of the attached report is granted
so long as the information is attributed to CLEAR.
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CLEAR
Clearinghouse on Environmental Advocacy and Research
1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20009
tel. 202-667-6982 = fax 202-232-2592 =
= e-mail: clear@ewg.org = www: http://www.ewg.org
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