Land use – Page 7 – CFACT

Supreme Court rebukes EPA in landmark property rights case

By Dr. Jeff EdgensProperty rights in America are sinking to the bottom of a regulatory swamp. The biggest threat to property rights is unchallenged bureaucratic decisions that command property owners to do the bidding of the EPA while not allowing those citizens the opportunity to be heard. One couple caught in this legal quagmire is Mike and Chantell Sackett, of Priest Lake, Idaho, where they bought property in 2008 to build the home of their dreams. They secured all of the necessary permits and began work to fill the land and to prepare the site for the construction of their lake [...]

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|2012-03-23T07:27:02-04:00March 23rd, 2012|Comments Off

Sustainable development: latest tool for expanding EPA’s empire

Determined to concentrate power in the hands of largely unaccountable bureaucrats in Washington, Obama administration officials have devised a new scheme to justify expanding the regulatory reach of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2013-10-17T09:44:07-04:00February 27th, 2012|2 Comments

Keystone Kops halt U.S.-Canada pipeline, target another

By Duggan Flanakin and Redmond WeissenbergerOilfield workers in Alberta, refinery workers in Texas and countless factory workers just learned that the White House will not allow construction of an oil pipeline that would bring over half a million barrels of oil a day from Canada’s Alberta Province and North Dakota’s Bakken Field to refineries in Texas and Louisiana. The job-killing decision was a victory for radical environmentalists and well-heeled U.S. foundations that have long battled Canadian oil sands companies and the U.S. oil and gas industry. President Obama says Congress gave him insufficient time to examine environmental issues. TransCanada Keystone Pipeline LP [...]

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CFACT Ed

|2012-01-19T12:04:36-05:00January 19th, 2012|Comments Off

Deep Green Resistance: Occupy (and more) till civilization falls

By Duggan Flanakin (reviewer)The central theme of Deep Green Resistance, written by Aric McBay, Lierre Keith, and Derrick Jensen (author of Endgame), is simple. To save the planet, its wildlife and some of its people, the enlightened few must rise up in resistance – not to reform, but rather to totally tear down the corporate capitalist economic system, and even civilization itself as we know it. Jensen presents his thesis in the book's preface. "The dominant culture – civilization – is killing the planet, and it is long past time for those of us who care about life on earth to [...]

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CFACT Ed

|2012-09-16T22:32:44-04:00December 27th, 2011|Comments Off

Time to Rethink America’s Cellulosic Ethanol Industrial Policy

If ever there were a case study in the absurdity of industrial policy, the federal mandates for cellulosic ethanol should be exhibit number one.

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Dave Juday

|2014-04-08T17:32:01-04:00December 16th, 2011|Comments Off

Land war breaks out in Maryland

Maryland has become the latest flashpoint in the nationwide conflict between urban elites and rural communities. Determined to impose “Plan Maryland,” a sweeping land-use mandate that would hamstring rural development, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) is facing a growing tax revolt and threats by local businesses to abandon the state.“From Annapolis, he’s dictating how communities across the state should develop, and it’s wrong. It’s arrogant,” Thomas Browning, a farmer from Frederick County, told the Washington Post (Oct. 31). “He’s at war with rural Maryland,” added State Senator and Minority Whip E. J. Pipkin. Plan Maryland is the O’Malley administration’s own version of [...]

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2011-11-04T00:00:00-04:00November 4th, 2011|Comments Off

What the frack is going on here?

Hydraulic fracturing sends “huge volumes of toxic fluids” deep underground at high pressure, to fracture shale rock and release natural gas, Food & Water Watch claims. “Billions of gallons of toxic fluids” will “contaminate” groundwater and drinking water “for generations.” We need to “Ban Fracking Now.”Environmentalists used to support “clean natural gas.” Whence the intolerant new attitude? Oil companies have been using hydraulic fracturing for 60 years to get the most petroleum possible from grudging rock formations deep beneath the Earth. A few years ago, Mitchell Energy and others combined HF with horizontal drilling to tap into hydrocarbon-rich shale deposits that [...]

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Paul Driessen

|2012-10-25T12:15:32-04:00October 20th, 2011|2 Comments

American resources – for American jobs, revenue and prosperity

A frequent refrain during budget and debt ceiling debates is that we need revenue enhancement: higher tax rates, reduced deductions, eliminated credits. But doing this, especially amid today’s massively expanding regulations, will kill more jobs and further reduce government revenues.There is a better way. Huge revenue sources are literally under our noses, or more precisely our feet.America is blessed with vast oil, gas, coal, uranium, rare earth and other natural resource riches – to compliment our ultimate resource: the creative, competitive, innovative spirit of our people.Finding and developing these resources would generate millions of jobs and billions, even trillions, in new [...]

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Paul Driessen

|2012-10-25T12:15:32-04:00August 15th, 2011|Comments Off

CFACT submits comment on EPA land grab regulation

The EPA is planning to expand its powers by redefining the "waters of the United States.” The proposed Guidance is currently open to public comment, and CFACT has submitted a comment opposing this power grab. Click here to view CFACT's comment in PDF format Unless EPA is stopped it stands to grab power over virtually all American waters and wetlands. The EPA is trying to usurp the powers of Congress and it's legislative intent by replacing the definitions of waters contained in the Clean Waters Acts with new definitions and interpretations the drafters of the Act would not recognize. This would [...]

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|2011-07-21T10:41:59-04:00July 21st, 2011|Comments Off

Rural American jobs threatened by Obama forest plan

Afraid that a new plan by the U.S. Forest Service will wreak economic havoc on timber-dependent rural communities, lawmakers from both political parties are expressing their displeasure with the Obama administration initiative.At issue is a sweeping so-called “planning rule” that would guide land-use decision on 198 million acres of federal forests and grasslands across the country. Released in February as a proposed rule, the plan has come under a barrage of criticism for emphasizing species preservation and climate change over the well-being of rural Americans.According to Greenwire (May 5, 2011), Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), chairman of the House Agriculture Committee’s subcommittee [...]

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2011-05-25T00:00:00-04:00May 25th, 2011|Comments Off

New â€œWild Landsâ€ battle

Caught flat-footed when the Obama administration’s controversial “wild lands” initiative was defunded under the recent Continuing Resolution (CR), environmental groups are vowing to fight to restore funds to the plan. It won’t be easy.As part of the budget deal negotiated between the White House and Capitol Hill to fund the government through the end of the current fiscal year, Sept. 30, lawmakers denied the Interior Department any money to implement the wild lands scheme. Unveiled shortly before Christmas last year, the administration’s plan would have allowed the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to designate millions of acres of federal [...]

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2011-05-11T00:00:00-04:00May 11th, 2011|Comments Off

Virginia eyes eminent domain reform

Six years after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its highly controversial Kelo v. City of New London decision, efforts to reign in the power of eminent domain continue to roll across the nation.In February, a Senate panel in Virginia narrowly approved a proposal to amend the state Constitution to redefine what is considered public use of private property. The measure, sponsored by Delegate Johnny Joannou (D-Portsmouth) would also compensate home and business owners at a level near market value for the loss of their property through eminent domain.Joannou told the Virginia Statehouse News (Feb. 15) that his bill would protect [...]

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2011-04-05T00:00:00-04:00April 5th, 2011|Comments Off

Is it time to sell federal lands?

Faced with a soaring federal deficit and a slumping economy, some Capitol Hill lawmakers have hit on an idea to deal with both: They want the federal government to begin selling off some of its vast estate.

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2012-10-25T11:26:09-04:00March 29th, 2011|Comments Off

Battle brewing over proposed coal export port in Pacific northwest

China’s growing appetite for energy and America’s abundance of coal are putting a small port on Washington’s Pacific Coast in the middle of a clash between local officials and environmentalists.At issue is a proposed coal export terminal in Longview, Washington, located near the mouth of the Columbia River. Millennium Bulk Terminals LLC, a subsidiary of Australia-based Ambre Energy, LLC, purchased the site of an abandoned aluminum smelter in Longview last November. Ambre plans to spend $100 million constructing a terminal through which coal from Montana and Wyoming would be shipped to China. After completion of the terminal sometime in 2012, Millennium [...]

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2011-02-22T00:00:00-05:00February 22nd, 2011|Comments Off

Capitol Hill eyes cuts to federal land purchases

Facing ballooning federal deficits, the House of Representatives is preparing to take the knife to a variety of programs, including those aimed at bringing more land under Washington’s ownership.In the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, GOP appropriators have put forth a list of 70 cuts they want to see included in the Continuing Resolution that will keep the government funded beyond March 4. Republican lawmakers have proposed slashing $348 million from the Obama administration’s request for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), which disperses tax dollars to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service for federal land [...]

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Bonner Cohen, Ph. D.

|2011-02-14T00:00:00-05:00February 14th, 2011|Comments Off