Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 11:04:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Competitive Enterprise Institute To: Recipients of the CEI List Subject: cei list: land rights LAND RIGHTS WASHINGTON ROUNDUP -- September Jonathan H. Adler The House of Representatives may have passed a limited takings compensation bill this past spring, the Senate left for its August recess without having acted on the issue. Other than a few hearings, such as those held by Rhode Island Republican Senator John Chafee in the Environment and Public Works Committee, the property rights issue has seen little action. With takings on the back burner, attention has focused on the pending reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), which leaders in both chambers hope to finish before the year is out. The only reform bill of note introduced prior to the August recess has been that proposed by Senator Slade Gorton (R-WA). Yet it does not have much support, particularly due to its lack of any property rights provisions. Property rights advocates have raised concerns that Senator Dirk Kempthorne (R-ID), chairman of the subcommittee on Drinking Water, Fisheries and Wildlife, will not improve much on the Gorton bill unless significant pressure is brought to bear. Not a single victim of the ESA has been allowed to testify at any of Kempthorne's Capitol Hill hearings, prompting an angry press release from the Grassroots ESA Coalition. The only true property rights advocate at the hearing was R.J. Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. His invitation may be an indication that Senator Kempthorne and his staff recognize the importance of the property rights issue in ESA reform, and the need to use positive incentives, and not regulatory sledgehammers, to protect imperiled species. Over in the House, Congressmen Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Don Young (R-AK) plan to introduce their bill in September, shortly after the House returns from break. Expectations are that it will be far better than the Gorton bill, but still leave property rights advocates wanting. Pombo and Young, thus far, have been unwilling to propose a nonregulatory bill, such as that promoted by the Grassroots ESA Coalition. A potential sticking point may be caused by the interest of Speaker Newt Gingrich in ESA reform. Over the past few months there have been several news reports suggesting that the Speaker will oppose substantive reform. It has been reported that Gingrich and his staff have been meeting with biodiversity guru E.O. Wilson of Harvard University, Sierra Clubber Murray Lloyd, and wildlife experts from the Environmental Defense Fund. Gingrich confidant Terry Maple of the Atlanta Zoo has also told reporters that he is confident that Gingrich "is going to have an increased role" in protecting the ESA from conservative reformers. This "increased role" reportedly included the Speaker's defense of federal science agencies, including the oft-renamed National Biological Survey. Nonetheless, property rights advocates were able to kill the agency's funding in the House appropriations bill. No such lick in the Senate. The Senate Interior Appropriations includes funding for an NBS (now called the Natural Resources Science Agency). The only consolation is a rider prohibiting the agency from gathering data on private land without permission, including aerial surveys. Grazing reform will also be a contentious issue this fall. Senator Domenici (R-NM) and Wes Cooley (R-OR) are seeking to revamp grazing permit regulations including the calculation of fees. The bill is designed to counter the Clinton administration's grazing fee proposal that takes affect August 21. The bill (S 852) has been approved by the Senate Energy Committee, but the House markup was still pending when Congress left for the recess. Senator Domenici was hoping to preempt the Clinton grazing plan in the Senate appropriations bill by adding a 90-day moratorium on the proposal. However, the House will not be able to act on the language until after the August recess. Another wrinkle was added to the grazing fee debate when the Domenici-Cooley proposal came under fire from free market advocates. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Cato Institute senior fellow Karl Hess accused the bill's sponsors of "cowboy socialism." "Apart from nullifying the worst of Mr. Babbitt's range reform, the Livestock Grazing Act reaffirms the worst of a century of public land grazing law," wrote Hess. Free market folk argue that the long term interests of rancher, and the land, could be served better by establishing transferable land-use rights on public lands. Some even suggest selling (or giving) the land to ranchers outright. In other developments: - The Senate Environment Committee has yet to act on Clean Water Act reauthorization. However, Senators Lauch Faircloth (R-NC) and Bennett Johnston (D-LA) have introduced a stand-alone wetlands reform proposal (S 851) that is similar to the wetlands provisions in the House CWA rewrite. If Senate CWA reauthorization looks unlikely for this year, Faircloth and Johnston may seek independent passage of their wetlands bill. - Both the House and the Senate Interior appropriations bills impose a one-year moratorium on listing new threatened or endangered species under the ESA. - Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), chairman of the Senate forests subcommittee is moving forward with plans to rewrite the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). Hearings were held in the spring, and a draft bill should be circulating shortly. This fall the subcommittee will also consider alternatives to federal land management, and whether some lands would be better managed by the states. Congressman James Hansen is considering similar policies in the House. - Efforts to reform the Mining Law of 1872 have reached a standstill, and may not even make it out of the committee in the Senate. On the House floor, a one-year moratorium on mining patents was passed 271-153, suggesting that pro-industry mining reform might not fare any better there. Jonathan H. Adler is Director of Environmental Studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Washington Roundup is a monthly feature of the Land Rights Letter, a national newsletter dedicated to educating landowners about private property rights issues. It is published by the Land Rights Foundation, Inc., a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) educational corporation. 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