David versus Goliath - Savor the Wins
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January 2025
Property Rights Report: David versus Goliath - Savor the Wins (Land Use and Climate Change Report from the American Property Rights Coalition)
On January 10, 2025, the U.S. Forest Service announced in the Federal Register it was withdrawing the proposed environmental impact statement for the proposed amendments to protect mature and old growth forests. Comments in opposition were submitted and cooperating agency state and local governments pushed back on the proposal. They asserted that top-down management from Washington, D.C. exceeded statutory authority and guaranteed further declining forest health.
Property Rights Report: David versus Goliath - Savor the Wins (Land Use and Climate Change Report from the American Property Rights Coalition)
On January 10, 2025, the U.S. Forest Service announced in the Federal Register it was withdrawing the proposed environmental impact statement for the proposed amendments to protect mature and old growth forests. Comments in opposition were submitted and cooperating agency state and local governments pushed back on the proposal. They asserted that top-down management from Washington, D.C. exceeded statutory authority and guaranteed further declining forest health.
The Forest Service described the background by stating:
David Beats Goliath - Twice More
The Supreme Court declined to hear Utah’s federal lands suit seeking to have those lands disposed of as required by the U.S. Constitution. The Court’s order did not reach the merits or preclude further litigation in a lower court. Parties on both sides commented on the court’s action in a Deseret News article. Utah now has to decide whether to pursue the litigation in federal district court.
Perpetual Conservation Easements are Contrary to Common Law
by Nathan D.
To grant perpetual control through the rule of the dead hand, you rob the living of the constitutionally guaranteed right to self-government and self-determination.... I understand that some folks who enroll into a perpetual easement can have financial and other pressures making for difficult circumstances and may feel stripped of other alternatives. Nonetheless, government funded perpetual easements break from first principles of good government, and should not be encouraged by a free people. The general application of such programs would place our lands into a feudal state and make the people serfs on the land. A generation having forfeited operational control and potentials to the rule of a dead hand and the oversight of an omnipresent state could be likened to the condition of Esau who sold his birth right for a pot of stew, and though he sought repentance with tears, found none (Heb. 12:17). Read more here.
- “The proposed amendment is based on information from national forests and current old-growth conditions and was informed by substantial public input. The threat analysis report of mature and old-growth forests on National Forest System and Bureau of Land Management lands suggests that current management activities may not be responsive to rapidly changing disturbances and conditions that threaten old-growth forests including wildfire, fire exclusion, insects and disease, extreme weather, climate, temperature and more.”
David Beats Goliath - Twice More
- After strong opposition from Kansas Counties and people on the ground, US Department of Energy backed off on preliminary proposals to impose massive transmission corridors through Kansas and other states. This represents a massive win at the tail end of the Biden administration, and shows the immense effects that can be accomplished from on the ground by local opposition.
- USFWS Surrenders Effort to Finalize Biological Integrity, Diversity, and Environmental Health Regs: Another big win for local governments and land owners as USFWS backs down from imposing biological integrity regulations on the national refuge system which would have prohibited agricultural practices and prioritize expanding refuges through acquisition of private lands.
- “An immense effect may be produced by small powers wisely and steadily directed.”
- Noah Webster 1821
- “An immense effect may be produced by small powers wisely and steadily directed.”
The Supreme Court declined to hear Utah’s federal lands suit seeking to have those lands disposed of as required by the U.S. Constitution. The Court’s order did not reach the merits or preclude further litigation in a lower court. Parties on both sides commented on the court’s action in a Deseret News article. Utah now has to decide whether to pursue the litigation in federal district court.
Perpetual Conservation Easements are Contrary to Common Law
by Nathan D.
To grant perpetual control through the rule of the dead hand, you rob the living of the constitutionally guaranteed right to self-government and self-determination.... I understand that some folks who enroll into a perpetual easement can have financial and other pressures making for difficult circumstances and may feel stripped of other alternatives. Nonetheless, government funded perpetual easements break from first principles of good government, and should not be encouraged by a free people. The general application of such programs would place our lands into a feudal state and make the people serfs on the land. A generation having forfeited operational control and potentials to the rule of a dead hand and the oversight of an omnipresent state could be likened to the condition of Esau who sold his birth right for a pot of stew, and though he sought repentance with tears, found none (Heb. 12:17). Read more here.
Delegation of Power by Congress to Administrative Agencies - Explained
This is Dr. Dan
Article I of the Constitution reads, “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” For decades, however, Congress has passed legislation that consists only of bare bones concepts and allowed agency bureaucrats to write rules and regulations that have the force of law. Agency bureaucrats then enforce those “laws” and punish offenders. We the People cannot hold these unelected agency bureaucrats accountable for their actions and errors. Therefore, we have no reasonable way to seek redress of grievances. The recent Supreme Court Chevron decision did address this unconstitutional delegation of congressional authority, and I discussed that issue with Bob Levy, former chairman of the Cato Institute.
Standing to Sue - Explained
This is Dr. Dan
Americans, as a rule, believe that some form of retribution is due an aggrieved party as a matter of fairness and expect the judicial system to provide a proper resolution. When routine justice fails or is unavailable, what recourse is available to people and local governments? I believe we find that legal remedy in the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law abridging right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Redress of Grievances involves the legal concept of STANDING. At what point can individual citizens sue the government to seek redress for harm by government actions. This is a complex issue involving sovereign immunity, qualified immunity, and the 11th Amendment. I’m here with Bob Levy, attorney, former Chairman of the Cato Institute, and a member of the legal team that argued the Heller second amendment case successfully before the Supreme Court.
This is Dr. Dan
Americans, as a rule, believe that some form of retribution is due an aggrieved party as a matter of fairness and expect the judicial system to provide a proper resolution. When routine justice fails or is unavailable, what recourse is available to people and local governments? I believe we find that legal remedy in the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law abridging right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Redress of Grievances involves the legal concept of STANDING. At what point can individual citizens sue the government to seek redress for harm by government actions. This is a complex issue involving sovereign immunity, qualified immunity, and the 11th Amendment. I’m here with Bob Levy, attorney, former Chairman of the Cato Institute, and a member of the legal team that argued the Heller second amendment case successfully before the Supreme Court.
