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Private
Property
House United In Defense of Private Property
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
House and Senate Republican leaders, backed
by Democratic African American liberals,
moved rapidly Thursday on legislation to
blunt last week's Supreme Court decision
allowing local governments to seize private
property for economic development projects.
Rep. Maxine Waters, a liberal Democrat from
South Central Los Angeles, and Rep. Richard
Pombo, a rock-ribbed conservative Republican
from rural San Joaquin County -- who rarely
join forces on any issue -- were among a
group that introduced a bill to cut off
federal funds for cities that use eminent
domain for such projects...
The Supreme Court "is way out of line on
this," Pombo said. "There's nothing in the
Constitution that allows them to step in and
take property away from an individual and
give it to somebody else."...
The legislation introduced Thursday,...would
deprive cities of any federal funds for
redevelopment projects that use the power of
eminent domain.
SFC Story
Pombo Statement |
ESA
"Endangering Species"
From the Wall Street Journal:
The aim of the 1973 Endangered Species Act
is to recover plants and animals threatened
or endangered with extinction. Does it work?
Thirty-two years and hundreds of millions of
dollars later, it would be nice to know.
So kudos to Representative Richard Pombo,
who ordered a comprehensive review of the
law from the House Resources Committee,
which he chairs. Mr. Pombo has long argued
that the species act is broken in a way that
not only renders it incapable of conserving
plants and animals but also puts unnecessary
burdens on private landowners. It turns out
he was right.
The
House report was compiled almost
entirely from official records, including
from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and
the National Marine Fisheries Service, which
makes it difficult for critics to argue it's
a political hit job. Of the nearly 1,300
domestic species on the endangered list, the
law has managed to "recover" a grand total
of 10. That's a success rate of less than
1%.
WSJ Editorial |
ESA - II
The Slippery Slope of
Home
Ownership?
From the Baltimore Sun:
Jim Twohy's waterfront home might soon
tumble into the Chesapeake Bay from atop a
60-foot cliff. He wants to build a wall to
save the house, but some meddlesome
neighbors are standing in the way.
The neighbors are puritan tiger beetles, a
threatened species half an inch long.
Baltimore Sun Story |
SCHEDULE
Wed:
Fisheries & Oceans
(Ketchikan, AK-11AM)
Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization
Fri:
Fisheries & Oceans
(Kodiak, AK-11AM)
Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization
Sat:
National Parks
(Carlsbad, NM-1PM)
NPS Border
Security Involvement
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