The takings issue moves beyond arcane calculations of benefits and mandates and, as one environmental analyst says, "hits people in their souls." Environmental groups "have big staffs, lots of money, and smart people," says Myron Ebell of the National Inholders Association, a group that represents Western landowners. "We have fear, pain, and anger on our side."
The Dole and Johnston amendments are but two tame examples of environmental reforms before Congress. Rep. Jimmy Hayes (D-La.) has collected 163 co-sponsors for a wetlands bill that incorporates property-rights protections. And consider the takings-compensation bill Rep. Billy Tauzin (D-La.) hopes to take to the House floor later this year.
Tauzin's bill, HR 3875, would specify that any action under the Endangered Species Act or the wetlands provision of the Clean Water Act that reduces the value of a property owner's land by 50 percent or more constitutes a regulatory taking under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The owner would be entitled to compensation from the federal government.
In a "Dear Colleague" letter, Rep. Norman Mineta (D-Calif.), chairman of the House public works committee, suggested that Tauzin's bill would subvert the Constitution and bankrupt the federal treasury. "We should not adopt the idea," wrote Mineta, that "the private interest must be paid to obey the law and not to harm the public."
Tauzin counters that his bill, which has 136 co-sponsors, would in fact enhance constitutional protections. He cites two takings decisions handed down by the U.S. Court of Claims in which Chief Judge Loren Smith asked political officials to clearly define regulatory takings. "Courts," wrote Smith in Bowles v. U.S., "can only interpret the rather precise language of the fifth amendment to our Constitution in very specific circumstances. To the extent that the constitutional protections of the fifth amendment are a bulwark of liberty, they should also be understood to be a social mechanism of the last, not first resort. [Courts] cannot hope to fill in the portrait of wise and just social and economic policy."
Today, notes Tauzin, the courts must decide compensation in takings lawsuits case by case. In addition, anyone wanting to sue the federal government must file suit in the Court of Claims in Washington, often many years after the government enforces its regulations.
"Few people have the resources to sue the government," he says. "We're making sure that every small landowner has the same right to justice as any big landowner who can afford to spend 10 years in court." As for compensation, it "will break the bank," Tauzin says, "unless you change environmental policies. But that's not my problem. The Constitution demands compensation in takings cases."
Green activists recognize that they can no longer steamroll any bill they want through Congress. As Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope told Congressional Quarterly, "These issues [the unholy trinity] have managed to slow us down and weaken laws and get in the way of the normal process"--that is, passing ever-more-restrictive environmental laws --"of Congress and the administration."
Al Gore and his environmentalist buddies are still in the White House, but any administration starts to lose political clout after mid-term congressional elections. And with the impending retirement of George Mitchell, the most powerful environmentalist in either house of Congress, greens will lose a crucial advocate. "If they can't pass [tough] environmental laws in the first two years of the Clinton administration," asks Ebell, "when the hell can they do it?"
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
nfl jerseys|11.17.10 @ 3:23AM|#
xthgf
منتدى العرب|3.9.11 @ 9:16PM|#
Thank you