THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VII, Issue # 145, July 8, 2005
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
THE AMERICAN POLICY CENTER WARNS:
BEWARE OF "KELO II"
By J. Peyton Knight
RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM & FEDERAL "ENDANGERED SPECIES" LEGISLATION -- THE PROPOSED "THREATENED &
ENDANGERED SPECIES RECOVERY ACT OF 2005": A BILL TO STRENGTHEN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S ABILITY TO STEAL
PRIVATELY OWNED PROPERTY UNDER THE EXISTING "ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT" -- THE LATEST PHASE IN THE RADICAL
ENVIRONMENTALISTS' CONTINUING ASSAULT ON CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION OF THE PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS OF
AMERICANS
FULL STORY:
Unfortunately, the dreadful ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Kelo v. City of New London isn’t the only
nightmare facing property owners this Summer, the American Policy Center (APC) reported today. According to draft language
obtained by the Center, the “Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act of 2005” (TESRA 2005) is a major sellout to property
rights advocates nationwide. Appropriately, the Center has dubbed the bill “Kelo II.”
“I can’t believe what I’m looking at,” said APC President Tom DeWeese, referring to the draft language. “Just as the Supreme
Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London has strengthened local governments’ ability to run roughshod over the Fifth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, TESRA 2005 strengthens the national government’s ability to steal private property under the
Endangered Species Act.” According to the documents obtained, the TESRA 2005 language was produced by Congressman Richard
Pombo’s U.S. House Resources Committee office.
The language states that the national government can take up to 50 percent of a landowner’s property before it ever has to pay the
landowner a dime. “This is a sellout to property rights advocates, plain and simple,” said DeWeese. “Stealing 50 percent of a person’s
lifeblood is out and out theft, but Congressman Pombo wants to make it federal law.”
A particularly frightening provision in the Act “provides new authority to protect listed species from harmful invasive species.”
DeWeese calls this “an outrage,” noting that radical environmentalists have sought regulatory authority over socalled "invasive
species" for years. Property rights advocates have fought such authority tooth-and-nail, as it would lead to property rights abuse far
and above even what the current Endangered Species Act allows. “If this is Congressman Pombo’s idea of help for property owners,
I’d hate to see his idea of hurt,” said DeWeese.
According to an Executive Order signed by President Bill Clinton in 1999, invasive species are broadly defined as “any species,
including seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that is not native to that ecosystem.”
DeWeese notes that Kentucky bluegrass and English ivy, found on most lawns and golf courses, are just two examples of common
invasive species that could open the door to government regulation of a person’s property.
The Endangered Species Act has a thirty-year history of shredding Americans’ constitutional protection of private property, and it
has ruined countless lives in the process. DeWeese warns that the Pombo plan to reaffirm the Act’s unconstitutional power to take
private property, and give the national government the additional power to regulate invasive species, is an absolute disaster for
anyone who owns land. He gives it an emphatic two thumbs down.
“Like most sequels, it would have been much better if Kelo II [TESRA 2005] had never been made.”
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
J. Peyton Knight is Executive Director of the American Policy Center, a nonprofit grassroots organization headquartered in
Warrenton, Virginia, and dedicated to advancing the principles of private property rights, free markets, and constitutionally
limited government.
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