Gang Green is on the march against two Supreme Court rulings from 2006 (Rapanos v. United States, and Carabell v. Army Corps of Engineers) which they claim overturn Congress’ intended Clean Water Act (CWA) protections. Seeking passage of The Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (H.R.2421), introduced by Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), enviro organizations such as Environment California are demanding Congress "make it clear that the original intent of the Clean Water Act is to protect all waters IN (emphasis mine) the U.S." (http://alpha.environmentcalifornia.org/newsroom/clean-water-news/clean-water-news/u.s.-supreme-court-rules-in-clean-water-cases). If enacted, this bill will extremely expand federal authority over both private landowners and uses of federal lands. Federal agencies would be granted jurisdiction not only over literally all surface water in the U.S. (read, intermittent streams, farm ponds, roadside ditches, etc.), but over "all activities affecting those waters." Such action will severely restrict, if not effectively extinguish, any private water right anywhere in the nation, as well as remaining freedoms you still have over your own behavior on your own land.
Truth be told, enviros have been seeking to "amend" clean water protections at least since the Supreme Court ruled in SWANCC v. Army Corps of Engineers that "navigable waters of the U.S." does not include anywhere a migrating bird might land, as the Corps had asserted. Enviros have specifically sought passage of a Clean Water Restoration Act since at least the 108th Congress; they are just voicing their current outrage at the Court’s decisions that don’t support their designs on your freedoms.
Through this bill Gang Green hopes to regulate use of all surface waters within every state; any wet area that may eventually reach waters under federal jurisdiction, and therefore must be subject to federal control. Under current guidance, the Corps and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assert CWA jurisdiction over traditional navigable waters and adjacent wetlands, non-navigable tributaries that are relatively-permanent waters, and wetlands with a continuous surface connection with such tributaries. Rep. Oberstar’s assertion that his bill "restores" and "clarifies" the Clean Water Act is a serious and dangerous misrepresentation. If this bill passes, expect continuous litigation and a bureaucratic nightmare as the agencies strive to enforce their new mandate. Such activities can only benefit Gang Green and its attorneys.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) issued a letter endorsing H.R.2421 on June 14, 2007, (http://www.nrdc.org/legislation/factsheets/leg_07070201A.pdf) listing more than 300 supportive organizations, which include "family farmers…fishers…boaters…faith communities…labor unions, and civic associations." Whether or not you belong to, or support, any of the listed groups, and whether or not you currently have a private water right, it’s imperative you address this very serious threat to the very survival of many, many Americans before the United States transforms into a United Soviet.
John Schadl, communications director for Rep. Oberstar, is quoted as being critical of criticisms of his boss’ bill, such as that made by Don Parmeter, executive director of the American Property Coalition, that H.R.2421 will "dramatically alter the extent to which the federal government will be able to control…property" are "mischaracterizations" of the proposed legislation (http://www.fergusfallsjournal.com/news/2007/jun/25/congressman-defends/). In classic doublespeak, Schadl insists on the one hand that some state regulations are already tougher than the Clean Water Act, "thus, (this) federal legislation will have no impact." Then he admits, "This (bill) provides a nationwide minimum standard for clean water protection" that will remove the current rules requirement that the Corps determine if a property is covered by federal rules or not. Schadl continued, "This is an important bill nationally because 30 states nationwide have no wetland legislation," and five states currently have no pollution standards whatsoever. What a novel idea – states’ rights! We can’t have that!
True protection of the water resources of this nation, regardless of location, or even ownership, can only be achieved by local citizens, not by a federal leviathan.
ACTION TO TAKE
1) H.R.2421 is currently in the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. Chairman Oberstar’s phone number is (202) 225-6211. Call the Ranking Member, Rep. Richard Baker (R-LA) at (202) 225-3901.
Tell them this bill needs to die in committee. Tell them you support the Supreme Court’s rulings curtailing federal agency overreach. Tell them to back off your private water rights!
2) At last count, 165 Congressmen have pledged their support for this legislation, listed here http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02421:@@@P. Please contact any of your state’s representatives on this list, and tell them you OPPOSE H.R.2421’s assault on private property owners and states’ rights. Tell them this bill needs to die in committee. Tell them you’ll be watching, and will take note of their vote, if this bill reaches the floor.
Phone calls and letters are the most effective way to contact Congress. E-mails and faxes are many times ignored. Members of Congress have been changing their e-mail addresses and fax numbers when we send out alerts. If you prefer, though, you can send an e-mail by going to each member’s website at http://thomas.gov.
Alternatively, you may phone the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the House office you request.
If you choose to write, and do not know your Congressman’s mailing addresses, you may simply address your letters as follows:
Office of Congressman (Name)
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
SEND THIS MESSAGE TO AT LEAST TEN MORE PEOPLE! APC is now offering you a quick and easy way to multiply your efforts and help win more battles! Simply click http://www.referralblast.com/rblast.asp?sid=5906 to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends! It’s fast, it’s easy and most of all, it’s extremely effective in KILLING OPPRESSIVE POLICIES!
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LAST CALL – The 2007 Freedom 21 Conference Focuses on NAU/SPP, Teaches Local Strategies to Stop NAU/SPP, Other Issues at Local Level
The annual Freedom 21 conference is always an excellent educational event, extending and enriching what you thought you already knew about a variety of issues. This year’s conference is being held July 19-21, in Dallas, Texas. It will be truly exceptional – the ONLY conference in the nation packed full of presentations by experts tracking the people and issues driving the formation of the North American Union.
Come listen to such speakers as Joseph Farah, founder, editor and CEO of WorldNetDaily; Phyliss Schlafly, founder of Eagle Forum; Tom DeWeese, President of the American Policy Center; Dan Byfield, President of the American Land Foundation; and Fred Kelly Grant, President of Stewards of the Range.
Attendees will learn how to divert political leaders from forming the North American Union, how to stop the NAFTA Super Highways, and how to bring local control home where it belongs. The final day you will learn how to stop these and other issues at the local level. Fred Grant will teach the strategy he devised and has been using for nearly 15 years in Owyhee County, Idaho, with great success, which requires federal and state agencies to coordinate their plans and management activities with local government. Grant will teach you how to do this in your community to stop the ravaging of productivity in your area, and how those along the path of the Trans Texas Corridor can use this approach to change the course of the NAFTA Super Highways.
One exciting bit of last-minute news –Duncan Hunter is a Presidential Candidate for the 2008 election. He is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and the author of a letter to the President calling for delaying Mexican trucks on U.S. highways. He has served in Congress since 1980 and is a champion of many Freedom21 organizations. He will address attendees at dinner Friday evening.
The Freedom 21 Conference is the most important meeting for learning about the issues that will affect our future and the solutions to stop them. If you have not yet made plans to attend, you can still do so. Simply log onto http://www.freedom21.org/conf/2007/21.html or immediately call (731) 986-0099.
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Action Alert: Keep Telling the House Committee on Agriculture to Take Mandatory Animal ID Out of the Farm Bill!!
The House Committee on Agriculture has delayed consideration of the Farm Bill yet again, until July 17-19. So if you haven’t called them yet, you still have time! And if you have called, feel free to call again!!
Chairman Peterson has released a new Chairman’s Mark for Full Committee Consideration. http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/2007FarmBill.html. The section linking NAIS to COOL has been re-numbered as Section 11101. Like the previous Section 121, Section 11101 would allow the USDA to use a mandatory animal identification system in order to implement Country of Origin Labeling (COOL). This would open the door for the USDA to link the National Animal ID System (NAIS) to COOL, forcing small farms out of business and harming our local food supply. Read more about NAIS and COOL at http://www.libertyark.net/articles/givens-040907.html
First, contact Chairman Collin Peterson:
Phone: 202-225-2171
Fax: 202-225-8510
Email: agriculture@mail.house.gov
Second, contact any member of the House Agriculture Committee who comes from your state. They are all listed below, in order of their states, starting with Alabama and ending with Wisconsin.
Third, contact Senator Harkin and any member of the Senate Agriculture Committee who comes from your state. They are listed after the House Committee below. The Senate Committee will be starting work on the Farm Bill at the end of July, and this may be our best hope for getting NAIS taken back out of the Farm Bill.
Last, contact your own Representative and Senator. Go to www.house.gov/writerep/ and www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm , or call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask your Congressman and Senators to speak with the Chairs of the Committee, and any members of the Committee from your state, on your behalf.
MESSAGE: Please strip Section 11101 from the Farm Bill. The law barring the USDA from using mandatory animal identification to implement COOL should not be changed, and NAIS should not be put into the Farm Bill.
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Name (State), Phone number, Fax number. If you want to use e-mail, then go to the Congressperson's website, which you can find at http://www.house.gov/
Terry Everett (AL), (p) 202-225-2901, (f) 202-225-8913
Michael Rogers (AL), (p) 202-225-3261, (f) 202-226-8485
Jo Bonner (AL), (p) 202-225-4931, (f) 202-225-0562
Joe Baca (CA), (p) 202-225-6161, (f) 202-225-8671
Dennis Cardoza (CA), (p) 202-225-6131, (f) 202-225-0819
Jim Costa (CA), (p) 202-225-3341, (f) 202-225-9308
Kevin McCarthy (CA), (202) 225-2915, (f) 202-225-2908
John T. Salazar (CO), (p) 202-225-4761, (f) 202-226-9669
Marilyn Musgrove (CO), (p) 202-225-4676, (f) 202-225-5870
Timothy Mahoney (FL), (p) 202-225-5792, (f) 202-225-3132
David Scott (GA), (p) 202-225-2939, (f) 202-225-4628
Jim Marshall (GA), (p) 202-225-6531, (f) 202-225-3013
John Barrow (GA), (p) 866-890-6236, (f) 202-225-3377
Leonard L. Boswell, (IA), (p) 202-225-3806, (f) 202-225-5608
Steve King (IA), (p) 202-225-4426, (f) 202-225-3193
Timothy Johnson (IL), 202-225-2371, (f) 202-226-0791
Brad Ellsworth (IN), (p) 866-567-0227, (f) 202-225-3284
Joe Donnelly (IN), (p) 202-225-3915, (f) 202-225-6798
Nancy Boyda (KS), (p) 202-225-6601, (f) 202-225-7986
Jerry Moran (KS), (p) 202-225-2715, (f) 202-225-5124
Charles W. Boustany, Hr. (LA), (p) 202-225-2031, (f) 202-225-5724
Tim Walberg (MI), (p) 202-225-6276, (f) 202-225-6281
Collin Peterson (MN), (p) 202-225-2165, (f) 202-225-1593
Timothy J. Walz (MN), (p) 202-225-2472, (f) 202-225-3433
Sam Graves (MO), (p) 202-225-7041, (f) 202-225-8221
Earl Pomeroy, (ND), (p) 202-225-2611, (f) 202-226-0893
Mike McIntyre (NC), (p) 202-225-2731, (f) 202-225-5773
Bob Etheridge (NC), (p) 202-225-4531, (f) 202-225-5662
Robin Hayes, (NC), (p) 202-225-3715, (f) 202-225-4036
Virginia Foxx (NC), (p) 202-225-2071, (f) 202-225-2995
Jeff Fortnberry (NE), (p) 202-225-4806, (f) 202-225-5686
Adrian Smith (NE), (p) 202-225-6435, (f) 202-225-0207
Kirsten Gillibrand, (NY), (p) 202-225-5614, (f) 202-225-1168
John R. "Randy" Kuhl, Jr. (NY), 202-225-3161, (f) 202-226-6599
Zachary T. Space (OH), (p) 202-225-6265, (f) 330-364-4330
Jean Schmidt (OH), (p) 202-225-3164, (f) 202-225-1992
Frank D. Lucas (OK), (p) 202-225-5565, (f) 202-225-8698
Tim Holden (PA), (p) 202-225-5546, (f) 202-226-0996
Stephanie Herseth Sandline, (SD), (p) 202-225-2801, (f) 202-225-5823
Lincoln Davis, (TN), (p) 202-225-6831, 9f) 202-226-5172
Henry Cuellar (TX), (p) 202-225-1640, (f) 202-225-1641
Mike Conaway (TX), (p) 202-225-3605, (f) 202-225-1783
Randy Neugebauer (TX), (p) 202-225-4005, (f) 202-225-9615
Nicholas Lampson (TX), (p) 202-225-5951, (f) 202-225-5241
Bob Goodlatte (VA), (p) 202-225-5431, (f) 202-225-9681
Steve Kagen (WI), (p) 202-225-5665, (f) 202-225-5729
SENATE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Name (State), Phone number, Fax number. If you want to use e-mail, then go to the Congressperson's website, which you can find at http://www.senate.gov/
Chair: Tom Harkin (IA), (p) 202-224-2035, (f) 202-224-9369
Blanche Lincoln (AR), (p) 202-224-4843, (f) 202-228-1371
Ken Salazar (CO), (p) 202-224-5852, (f) 202-228-5036
Saxby Chambliss (GA), (p) 202-224-3521, (f) 202-224-0103
Mike Crapo (ID), (p) 202-224-6142, (f) 202-228-1375
Charles Grassley (IA), (p) 202-224-3744, (f) 515-288-5097
Richard Lugar (IN), (p) 202-224-4814, (f) 202-228-0360
Pat Roberts (KS), (p) 202-224-4774, (f) 202-224-3514
Mitch McConnell (KY), (p) 202-224-2541, (f) 202-224-2499
Debbie Stabenow (MI), (p) 202-224-4822, e-mail: senator@stabenow.senate.gov
Norm Coleman (MN), (p) 202-224-5641, (f) 202-224-1152
Amy Klobuchar (MN), (p) 202-224-3244
Thad Cochran (MS), (p) 202-224-5054 Max Baucus (MT), (p) 202-224-2651, (f) 202-224-0515 E. Banjamin Nelson (NE), (p) 202-224-6551, (f) 202-228-0012 Kent Conrad (ND), (p) 202-224-2043, (f) 202-224-7776, E-mail: https://conrad.senate.gov/...
Sherrod Brown (OH), (p): 202-224-2315, (f) 202-228-6321
Robert Casey, Jr. (PA), (p): 202-224-6324, (f) 202-228-0604
Lindsey Graham (SC), (p) 202-224-5972
John Thune (SD), (p) 202-224-2321, (f) 202-228-5429
Patrick Leahy (VT), (p) 202-224-4242
TALKING POINTS TO STOP NAIS
* Please strip Section 121 from the draft Farm Bill. The law barring the USDA from using mandatory animal identification to implement COOL should not be changed, and NAIS should not be added to the Farm Bill.
* Country of Origin Labeling can and should be implemented without mandatory animal identification
* Requiring all imported livestock to be identified with a country of origin marking is enough to implement COOL
* Requiring U.S. cattle producers to individually identify all domestic cattle to prove their eligibility for a USA label is not necessary for COOL.
* Using mandatory animal identification to implement COOL would impose heavy burdens on American farmers and ranchers, in both time and money. NAIS will drive independent ranches and farms in America out of business.
* The purpose of COOL is to provide information so that consumers can choose whether to buy domestic or foreign products and, as a hoped-for result, providing American farmers and ranchers with economic rewards for raising food in this country.
* Mandatory animal identification would harm American farmers and ranchers, contrary to the goal of COOL.
* The right to know where our food comes from will be an empty right if it is purchased at the price of a mandatory animal identification system, such as the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). If mandatory animal ID is implemented, consumers would be fooled into believing that they were supporting American farmers and ranchers through the "Made in the USA" label. Yet more and more of the food labeled that way would be raised by international corporations that are willing and able to comply with NAIS.
SAMPLE LETTER OR EMAIL -- Personalize for the greatest impact
If you use email, be sure to put a clear subject line, such as "Strip Section 121 from the Farm Bill - Keep NAIS out of the Farm Bill"
Dear Chairman Peterson and Members of the Committee:
I ask that you strip Section 11101 from the Farm Bill. The law barring the USDA from using mandatory animal identification to implement Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) should not be changed, and the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) should not be added to the Farm Bill.
I am a _______ (farmer, consumer, … . Tell them a few sentences about yourself and why you care about this issue)
COOL can be implemented simply by requiring all imported livestock to be identified with a country of origin marking, which is already a requirement for cattle imported from Mexico or Canada. Requiring U.S. cattle producers to individually identify all domestic cattle to prove their eligibility for a USA label is simply not necessary. Using mandatory animal identification to implement COOL will impose heavy burdens on American farmers and ranchers, in both time and money. NAIS will drive independent ranches and farms in America out of business.
The purpose of COOL is to provide information so that consumers can choose whether to buy domestic or foreign products and, as a hoped-for result, providing American farmers and ranchers with economic rewards for raising food in this country. Mandatory animal identification will harm all Americans’ rights and our economy. Mandatory animal identification will cancel out the goals of COOL.
The right to know where our food comes from will be an empty right if it is purchased at the price of a mandatory animal identification program such as the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). If NAIS is implemented, consumers will be fooled into believing that they were supporting American farmers and ranchers through the "Made in the USA" label. Yet more and more of the food labeled that way would be raised by international corporations that are willing and able to comply with NAIS.
Please strip Section 11101 from the Farm Bill, and keep NAIS out of the Farm Bill.
Sincerely,
Name
Address
City, State Zip
Email (if you have it)
