Hold Placed on Bad Bills in Washington

Liberty Matters | November 11, 2010 -

As reported in our September edition of Liberty Matters, the democratically lead Congress has been considering several onerous pieces of legislation, including,  the infamous “Cap and Trade” bill, the Clean Water Restoration Act (SB 787), the Wildlife Corridors Act (HR 5101), and the CLEAR Act (HR 3534).  These bills would severely restrict private property rights.

Fortunately, we have information from a very reliable source in the U.S. Senate that a “Hold” was placed on all these bills prior to the election.

With last Tuesday’s results where there was a dramatic turnaround of 70 or more seats in both the House and Senate, the mood on Capitol Hill is very tense, to say the least.  That can either be an asset or a liability for the next six weeks.

A hold will not allow any of the bills to be considered, however, you never say “never” when it comes to legislation.  There has been a rumour that the democratic majority in the Senate is trying to consolidate the bills into one Omnibus Federal Lands Bill to try and circumvent the hold, but that is all speculation at this point and would be suicide for the remaining democrats in the Senate if they decided to force a consolidated bill through.  

Come January, the Clean Water Restoration Act will need a new sponsor if it is to be refilled in the Senate.  Senator Russell Feingold (WI), the co-sponsors of the Clean Water Restoration Act, was defeated last Tuesday.

Liberty Matters will closely monitor these bills and alert you if and when something breaks. 

Uprising in Texas to Oppose Habitat Plan

Liberty Matters | November 11, 2010 -

December 16: Update to Story "Habitat Plan Takes Hit"

As reported October 20^th in our Liberty Matters Alert, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County are attempting to create the Southern Edwards Plateau Habitat Conservation Plan that will encompass seven counties. 

Allowing one county to mandate fees over six other counties is not only unprecedented, but more than likely, unconstitutional.  Some of the fees from other plans run as high as $5,500 per acre as in the Travis County, Texas Balcones Canyonlands Conservation Plan.  But, that doesn’t seem to stop our federal agencies from forcing their agenda on unsuspecting landowners.

However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife encountered their first major opposition last Monday when over 100 landowners showed up at the Kerr County Commissioner’s Court meeting to protest the plan.  There were so many people the commissioners had to move the meeting to a larger district court room. 

During the meeting, landowners and organizations let the locally elected commissioners have an ear full.  Taking the lead to oppose the plan was the Exotic Wildlife Association and their executive director Charly Seale. 

“They will draw a line on the map and if my land is included, my property values will diminish by half.  I would not buy a piece of property if it was used to protect a bird,” explained Seale. 

“This plan looks good on paper, but it is a backdoor way for our federal government to get our land and the EWA urges Kerr County not to participate in this plan,” Seale continued.

The county commissioners didn’t take a position, but the good news is, they heard from their constituents.  County Commissioner H.A. “Buster” Baldwin said: ...I propose we put this on the agenda every month and say no.”

The six other counties are also hearing from their constituents who do not want their counties to participate in this federal scheme.  “This will hopefully give others around the nation the courage to stand up against other similar habitat plans and stop these federal take-overs of our private property,” stated Mike Dail, chairman of American Stewards of Liberty and farm and ranch realtor/landowner in Mason County, Texas.

Click Here to Read the Article from the Kerrville, TX Daily Times... 

Give the Gift of Liberty

Liberty Matters | November 11, 2010 -

American Stewards of Liberty is looking to make 2011 the year for bringing local control back to America’s communities.  And we’re looking to you, as a member of ASL, for help in making it happen.

For a limited time only – until December 31 – ASL is offering discounted gift memberships for just $20.  To take advantage of this limited time offer and to help us engage as many people as possible to take back our nation acre by acre, click here.

Habitat Plan Takes Hit

News & Updates | December 16, 2010 | By Dan Byfield

This week, after major protests from hundreds of landowners led by a courageous organization known as the Exotic Wildlife Association, county commissioners in Kerr County, Texas, passed a resolution opting out of a region-wide Habitat Conservation Plan known as the Southern Edwards Plateau HCP (SEP-HCP).

The significance of this decision is that this county has decided it doesn’t have to be railroaded by federal agencies and major environmental organizations into creating plans detrimental to their constituents, landowners, and their local economy. 

What is now expected is, the other surrounding counties will take the lead of Kerr and opt out of the federal plan leaving them with nothing to control.  There are two small song birds known as the Black-capped vireo and the Golden-cheeked warbler that supposedly lives in approximately 33 Central Texas counties.

Years ago in the early 1990’s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) tried to list 33 Central Texas counties as habitat for the two endangered birds, but protests from thousands of Texans killed their plans.  Since that time, the federal government has tried numerous ways of enticing landowners and counties into succumbing to their plans, but most counties have resisted.

However, when Bruce Babbitt under president Bill Clinton came up with the idea of Habitat Conservation Plans, several counties and cities in Texas decided to aid and abet the federal agency by creating these huge preserves and committing thousands of acres and thousands of landowners to their scheme.

Now, Bexar County, along with the City of San Antonio, have filed for an application with FWS that not only includes Bexar County, but six more surrounding counties - Medina, Bandera, Kerr, Kendall, Blanco, and Comal.

Kerr County commissioner Jonathan Letz has been helping the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) by co-chairing the committee with Kirby Brown of the Texas Wildlife Association.  When landowners discovered their county and, in particular, their county commissioners were helping in this plan, they became incensed leading to the county-passed resolution on December 13, 2010 to opt out of the plan. 

With that decision, it is now hoped by landowners in other surrounding counties that their elected officials will take the lead of Kerr County and opt out as well.

In essence, the SEP-HCP will give zoning authority to the managing committee made up of Bexar County and the City of San Antonio.  Once the map with a minimum of 10,000 acres in each of the six surrounding counties is created, that will place a major encumbrance on those acres destroying property values and reducing the tax base of each county.

The plan will create a fee (tax) on those landowners who are targeted as having habitat who will have to pay exorbitant fees to utilize their land.  Those fees will be collected by the City of San Antonio and Bexar County and used to buy more land to create a large preserve or used as a management budget to run the whole scheme.  Landowners will find that they cannot build a fence, a barn, a home or subdivide unless they first get permission from this newly created group sanctioned by our federal government.

Kerr County did the right thing in opting out of this plan.  They took the first step that others in Central Texas should take, but more importantly, other local communities around the nation ought to consider following Kerr County’s lead and just say “NO” to our federal government.

They can accomplish the same goals of “preserving” land by going to any landowner they wish and asking if they would place conservation easements on their land in perpetuity to save the species.  American Stewards of Liberty is not endorsing conservation easements, but we don’t endorse one county having the ability to form a Habitat Conservation plan just so they can continue to develop at their discretion and at the detriment of their neighboring counties.

Proponents always claim these HCPs are “voluntary,” but once a plan like this goes into effect, it will never go away and those landowners who find themselves with habitat will be forced into complying with this plan.  How is that voluntary?  It is extremely unfortunate for those landowners who get caught in the “Russian-roulette” being played with their private property. 

SEPHCP Resolution
SEPHCP Website

Related Article:
County opts out of Habitat Plan