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from the American Land Rights Association
The House Resources Committee is holding a hearing on the ESA on Tuesday, July 19th. Efforts to update and modernize the ESA face possible make-or-break legislative action in Congress sometime after July 19th.
Things are really moving fast on ESA in Congress.
It’s important for you to call, fax and e-mail your Representative to let him know you want the Endangered Species Act updated and modernized so that it actually recovers species while protecting private property, communities and jobs. This is the best chance you are going to have, perhaps for decades.
A few of our well-meaning allies are actually fighting the bill soon to be offered by Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), Chairman of the House Resources Committee. They’re also attacking Chairman Pombo. They feel his bill does not go far enough. They’re demanding their complete agenda…or nothing.
Our ultimate goals are virtually identical. But our purist friends are insisting on everything. Some have even issued what amounts to ultimatums to Chairman Pombo, Committee staff and others. Those tactics never work in Congress. They will get them and you nothing.
Our view is simple. We save landowners.
We don’t just talk about it. We don’t just hold conferences about it. We don’t just write papers about it. We don’t just send out press releases.
We get between the government and landowners and stop condemnations, eminent domain, takings, and over regulation. We’ve even stopped foreclosures instigated by the government. We try to stop bad legislation and pass good legislation. We’ve been doing it for 33 years and our success rate is very high.
Unlike some groups, we’ve actually helped pass legislation. You cannot always say no. You have to be for something instead of against everything. And you have to trust somebody in Congress once in a while.
Pombo’s bill isn't perfect. I doubt if any bill that has passed Congress has ever been perfect in the eyes of its supporters. There is always give and take in Congress.
But we want to save landowners.
The Pombo Bill will save a lot of landowners.
Will it save all landowners? No. Do we wish it would do more? Yes.
But insisting on everything in the perfect bill dooms the Pombo bill to failure. It would never pass Congress.
That saves no landowners…or Federal land users, or communities.
We would rather have part of something than all of nothing.
What if Schindler of Schindler’s List had said that since he could not save all the Jews from Hitler, he wouldn’ save any Jews from Hitler?
What do we say to all the landowners, families and businesses who could have been saved by the Pombo ESA Bill if it were to fail because we insisted on getting everything and got nothing?
We save landowners. The Pombo Bill saves landowners.
The environmental groups have been successful at passing their agenda because they’ve been willing to accept a partial win and come back for more. They are successful at passing their agenda incrementally over time. We could do well to learn from them and follow that method. There really is no choice if we want to be successful.
We believe in Chairman Richard Pombo. We support him. He has a wonderful property rights record going back his entire career. He is trustworthy and a team player. He is well respected by the rest of Congress on both sides of the isle.
The ESA has failed to do its job for 31 years. Only 10 species out of 1300 have been recovered by the ESA, and even those 10 claims are dubious.
The Pombo Bill will go a long way to recognizing the failures of the ESA. Its language learns from the mistakes of the past so the ESA can be updated and modernized to actually recover species while protecting landowners, Federal land users, communities and more.
You must decide where you fall on these issues.
L. M. Schwartz, Chairman,
The Virginia Land Rights Coalition,
P.O. Box 85,
McDowell, Virginia 24458,
(540) 396-6217
“Working to Protect the Rights of Virginia’s Property Owners”
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