From: alra@governance.net Subject: Senate NEW CARA Hearing Set – S 259 Land Rights Network American Land Rights Association PO Box 400 – Battle Ground, WA 98604 Phone: 360-687-3087 – Fax: 360-687-2973 E-mail: alra@landrights.org or alra@governance.net Web Address: http://www.landrights.org Legislative Office: 507 Seward Square SE – Washington, DC 20003 New CARA (S 2590) Hearing Tues., July 20th Urgent Action Required Americans Outdoors Act – or the “Bait and Switch Act.” Call, fax and e-mail your Senators now opposing this giant new land grab. Keep calling today, Thursday, July 15th, Friday, July 16th, Monday July 19th and Tuesday, July 20th. The Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee must be deluged with calls opposing this giant Land Grab. New downloadable Testimony Questionnaire posted to http://www.landrights.org It’s easy. Please go to landrights.org and download a copy of the Americans Outdoors Act Testimony Questionnaire. Fill it out and fax it to both your Senators and the Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee listed below. You can have your testimony included in the official hearing record by filling out the Testimony Questionnaire and faxing it to the Committee. That number is (202) 224-6163. So download the Testimony Questionnaire, fill it out, and fax it to your Senators plus the Senators below and the Energy Committee. Be sure to fill it out and put your own personal comments in. That makes it much more valuable. There are no trick questions or statements. We agree with all the statements but you don’t have to. Tell the Committee and your Senators what you really think. The House and Senate versions of the NEW CARA bill are available online at http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/0108query.html The House version the Get Outdoors Act (GO) (HR 4100). The Senate version is the Americans Outdoors Act (2590). For more information, go to www.landrights.org We call them both the New CARA or the Get Out Of Rural America Act. HR 4100 is a giant $57 billion Trust Fund that gives the Federal and state land buying agencies over $3 billion per year automatically without having to go through the appropriations process. S 2590 is a smaller bill that in its final form will look like HR 4100 but right now has no Federal side land acquisition. Everyone we talk to in Washington agrees this is nonsense and will ultimately include massive land acquisition. They believe the two bills will be merged into one with the huge Federal land acquisition in HR 4100 taking over the smaller bill. This is clearly a divide and conquer, bait and switch tactic by Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee to trick opponents into not fighting as hard, then he sneaks his real intentions in later. There he goes again. It’s the money, money, money. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) (along with Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Just introduced their new version of CARA, the giant land grab bill. It’s called the Americans Outdoors Act (S 2590). They’ve already set up a hearing on July 20th before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Alexander is pushing for an immediate markup. Alexander is playing tricks. He introduced S 2590 without a Federal land acquisition component. Capitol Hill staff, environmental groups and many others are certain he will add the Federal land acquisition at the last minute. You may remember that Alexander was the Chairman of the President's Commission on Americans Outdoors from 1985 to 1987 which recommended the first $1 billion per year land acquisition trust fund, the American Heritage Trust. He also gave us, recommendations for thousands of additional wild and scenic rivers, new park and other land acquisition areas, scenic byways, greenways, soundsheds, viewsheds, and loads of other new Federal land use controls. The commission recommended 2000 land trusts by the year 2000 and all kinds of other new mechanisms to expand Federal land use control and ownership. The key was always the trust fund. The money. Once they get a guaranteed source of money, there will be no stopping them. American Land Rights (then called the National Inholders Association) was able to nullify a lot of what he did by suing, along with other groups, the President’s Commission on Americans Outdoors under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. We lost because we sued too late. But we created so much controversy that the report was delayed many months. A GAO report ordered by Don Young, (Yes, that Don Young), showed that the Commission had operated in secret, held secret meetings, did not keep minutes as they were supposed to and deliberately misled the public. They knowingly violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) many times. The GAO report is "Interior Did Not Comply With Legal Requirements For The Outdoors Commission. RCED-88-95. What makes this important is that the new bill, S 2590, has no Federal land acquisition component. But everyone in Washington, DC knows that it will be added back in by amendment at the last minute. This is typical of how Lamar Alexander works. He works in the shadows and behind the scenes. He tries to trick to public. Alexander deliberately introduced the bill just before the July 4th Congressional Recess to delay having it printed and available. He urged a hurry up hearing and event wants a quick mark-up on the bill. So far, no mark-up has been promised. Here’s what you must do today. -----1. Call your Senator at (202) 224-3121 every day this week plus Monday and Tuesday to discuss this giant land grab bill. Get others to do the same. Ask for his fax number unless your Senators are on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee as listed below. -----2. Send a one page letter by fax to your Senator. If you mail it, it will be delayed from three to six weeks because of the Anthrax screening process. So if you want immediate results, use fax. -----3. Send a fax to each of the Senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Here’s a list. Republicans: Pete Domenici (R-NM) – Chairman FAX: (202) 224-6163 Don Nickles (R-OK) FAX: (202) 224-6008 Larry Craig (R-ID) FAX: (202) 228-1067 Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO) FAX: (202: 228-4609 Craig Thomas (R-WY) FAX: (202) 224-1724 Lamar Alexander (R-TN) FAX: (202) 228-3398 Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) FAX: (202) 224-5301 James Talent (R-MO) FAX: (202) 228-1518 Conrad Burns (R-MT) FAX: (202) 224-8594 Gordon Smith (R-OR) FAX: (202) 228-3997 Jim Bunning (R-KY) FAX: (202) 228-1373 Jon Kyl (R-AZ FAX: (202) 224-2207 Democrats: Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) FAX: (202) 224-2852 Daniel Akaka (D-HI) FAX: (202) 224-2126 Byron Dorgan (D-ND) FAX: (202) 224-1193 Bob Graham (D-FL) FAX: (202) 224-3808 Ron Wyden (D-OR) FAX: (202) 228-2717 Tim Johnson (D-SD) FAX: (202) 228-5765 Mary Landrieu (D-LA) FAX: (202) 224-9735 Evan Bayh (D-IN) FAX: (202) 228-1377 Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) FAX: (202) 228-3954 Charles Schumer (D-NY) FAX: (202 228-3027 Maria Cantwell (D-WA) FAX: (202) 228-0514 Why You Should Oppose The Americans Outdoors Act (S 2590) (Remember, we are telling you how it is like the House Bill (HR 4100) and what it will become. If you read it now, it will not have all these things. They are trying to trick you into relaxing and not fighting the bill.) Here are additional reasons why the Americans Outdoors Act (S 2590) and the Get Out Act (HR 4100) must be defeated: -----Government agents and appraisers get well OVER ONE BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR TO CONDEMN PRIVATE PROPERTY. No one is safe. Eminent Domain will spread; -----Environmental law firms receive grant money so they can sue YOU into bankruptcy; -----Extremists gain $60 million dollars per year to train an ARMY of investigators who will trespass on your land to LOCATE AND POLICE E-NDANGERED SPECIES; -----All lands with Endangered Species will be targets of land acquisition – no limits; -----Animal rights activists are clamoring for money to reintroduce wolves that kill livestock and run cattle ranchers, farmers, inholders and landowners off their land; -----CARA (GO) will fund new UN Biosphere Reserves and UN World Heritage Sites; -----“Non-government organizations” (NGOs) win funding to draw up UNITED NATIONS Biosphere Reserves, override national sovereignty and eliminate private property rights; -----Lands cut off by Forest Service Roadless Rule will become targets as well; -----Green groups will seek to designate hundreds of areas of private land as new Federal areas; -----Much of the money will go to The Nature Conservancy and other giant green land trusts; Hunters and sportsmen will gradually lose access to acquired lands; -----Inholder families are specifically targeted in the new bills; -----Hundreds of small communities in existing Federal areas will be wiped off the map; -----Land acquisition has always been used as a weapon to regulate and control private landowners; -----Land acquisition drives away employers. The community and its future are left in doubt; Please call your Senators and the Senators listed on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee every day this week. It is critical. Please forward this message as widely as possible. Make sure at least five other people receive it. -- To unsubscribe from this mailing list; please visit http://governance.net and enter your email address.