Urgent Action Alert: “Invasive Species” in the Transportation (SAFETEA) Bill

All land use, public and private, will be dictated by radical environmentalists in the DOI if Sections 1501 and 1601 are not Removed from this bill Immediately!

from Julie Kay Smithson, Property Rights Research

March 4, 2004

If you enjoyed Endangered Species, Habitat and Wetlands mitigation, you will be ecstatic about “Invasive Species.” -- YOU CAN HELP STOP THIS SCAM IF YOU ACT NOW!

This is a Very Important Number that needs to be used Today and Tomorrow, Please:

Richard Pombo's Fax Number: 202-225-5929

SAFETEA - The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003.

Also known as S.1702.

Please send a FAX immediately to the Honorable Richard Pombo, Chairman, House Resources Committee with this message:

You are alarmed by Sections 1501 and 1601 in S. 1702, aka SAFETEA.

All references to Invasive Species -- Sections 1501 AND 1601 --

Must Be Removed!

Short is Great! Your own words (variations of the above) are Fine!

Your action on this plea is important beyond description:

Invasive Species, once passed into law,

will make the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act look like walks in the park.

There is no reasonable definition of “Invasive Species.”

Briefly, it is defined as any organism that is non-native and could cause harm to the environment.

In other words, it is anything that overzealous bureaucrats in the Department of Interior (DOI) or the Federal Highway Administration say it is.

It will force unwilling State agencies to kowtow to

the most radical environmental fraud of the last three decades:

maybe the most intrusive one of all time.

All land use, public and private, will be dictated by radical environmentalists in the DOI.

Invasive Species is the Control Agenda that WILL affect us all -- Let's stop it NOW, while we can!

Sections 1501 and 1601 legalize “Invasive Species” and elevate this phony agenda to that of Wetlands and Endangered Species within the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) process.

SAFETEA will pass, but it Must NOT pass with Sections 1501 and 1601.

This bill has already passed the Senate containing the Invasive Species sections.

It sits in the House, awaiting imminent passage there.

Faxes are far more important/effective than phone calls and emails --

as many faxes as possible, as soon as possible.

Please express justifiable alarm that Invasive Species will become codified

if Sections 1501 and 1601 are allowed to remain in the bill.

The fundamental problems are explained in the synopsis below -- please word in your own way.

Address your FAX to:

The Honorable Richard W. Pombo, Chairman

House Resources Committee

Cc: Your Representative (not Senator)

Fax: 202-225-5929

Then FAX the same document to your Federal Representative.

His/her FAX number can be found at http://www.house.gov/writerep/

This is of the utmost importance! Please act on this as soon as possible; today if at all possible.

Richard Pombo's Fax Number: 202-225-5929

II. BACKGROUND

SAFETEA (TRANSPORTATION) BILL: INVASIVE SPECIES SECTIONS

Notes on the SAFETEA Bill; S.1072ES as posted on Thomas 3-4-04.

Relevant sections: 1501, 1505, 1601.

Sections 1501 and 1601 legalize “Invasive Species” and elevate this phony agenda to that of Wetlands and Endangered Species within the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act of 1969) process.

Unlike Federal policy or Executive Orders, if S.1072 passes with the inclusion of the “Invasive Species” sections, “Invasive Species” will have become Federal law. There will be no stopping it after that. It will forever after become part of the process, not only in road construction, but also any activity that in the past has required Wetlands, Endangered Species or Habitat mitigation.

There is no reasonable definition of “Invasive Species”. Briefly, it is defined as any organism that is non-native and could cause harm to the environment. In other words, it is anything that overzealous bureaucrats in the Department of Interior (DOI) or the Federal Highway Administration say it is. It will force unwilling State agencies to kowtow to the most radical environmental fraud of the last three decades; maybe the most intrusive one of all time. All land use, public and private, will be dictated by radical environmentalists in the DOI. This is a quantum departure from anything America has seen in the past.

America cannot afford to cede to radical bureaucrats yet another harmful, wasteful and incredibly dictatorial regulatory power that will eventually affect every land use decision by State and Federal governments, businesses and private landowners.

The DOI is setting itself up to be the czar of all land use decisions; public and private. How can that be? Simple: There are no scientific criteria for “Invasive Species”.

While more sensible agencies such as the Department of Agriculture rely on the time-tested concept of noxious weeds, the DOI will be the only agency with the “expertise” to determine what is “invasive” and what is not. Most flowers, shrubs, decorative trees, and even garden produce can (will) be reclassified as INVASIVE SPECIES.

It will not stop with the plant kingdom, either. Rainbow trout, brown trout, pheasants, goldfish and honeybees are “invasive” according to the definition (foreign origin, harmful to the environment by way of replacing/threatening native species). Habitat mitigation will not stop with removal of “invasive” plants and their substitution by “native” ones. The entire biological realm is will be open to DOI’s interpretation.

Do not be deceived that a few obscure sections in a seemingly unrelated bill could not have a major effect on all land use in the United States. It will.

In fact, the very reason this is in the Transportation Bill is because the natives-only “Invasive Species” legislation has been delayed in the House Resources Committee (Rep. Richard Pombo, Chairman) until facts can be gathered and the issue brought out in open discussion. House Resources is the natural domain of “Invasive Species” debate.

Legalizing the “Invasive Species” agenda through obscure sections in a Transportation bill is the radicals’ time-tested, back-door method of subverting Resources (and Agriculture) by seizing power without honest discussion.

Inclusion of these sections in the Transportation bill codifies the concept of natives-only -- and this will expand to all land-use decisions and processes.

Please, send those faxes to Rep. Pombo AND to your Representative, today if possible!

Richard Pombo's Fax Number: 202-225-5929

Thank you for your help!