If you thought the Endangered Species Act or the Clean Water Act were damaging, this newest legislative attempt to control property may just prove more of a shock than your system can handle.

The title of the bill sounds generic enough: The Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2004. But contained within are some sections that, left unchallenged, will legalize a system of land use policy that is unsurpassed in its potential to grant the federal government, radical environmentalists and self-serving politicians all the loopholes they need to regulate millions of acres of your private property.

Snuck into the SAFETEA Act, S. 1072, are provisions that allow for government to control your land using an ill-defined Invasive Species policy. Specifically, sections 1501, 1505 and 1601 hand the Interior Dept. authority to decide which plants, animals, fish, birds and insects are "invasive," or of foreign origin to a particular land area, and are therefore threatening to those species regarded as native. Once it’s discovered your property is home to an invasive species, Interior folks have all the justification they need to oversee, manage, analyze, prevent and control the "damage" from these invaders – or, in less Orwellian-speak, grab land.

So how exactly does this affect you?

Even plants that have grown for decades on a certain tract of land can suddenly be deemed a threat to the environment and to human health because the language in the bill does not place any time constraints on determining invasiveness. Once categorized as such, the environmental powers-that-be have carte blanche to manage this land to prevent what they consider as further upsets to the nation’s ecosystem. If this land happens to be your backyard, so be it.

Like golfing? Well, enjoy the pastime while you can because under this bill golf courses that grow Kentucky bluegrass, the majority of which do, can be monitored, regulated, controlled and even outlawed because this particular seed of grass is an invasive species (except in Kentucky, of course) and can be deemed harmful to both humans and environment.

These are just a couple examples of how S. 1072 and its private property-busting provisions can play in reality. S. 1072 has already passed the Senate and rests in the hands of various House committees. A House companion measure, H.R. 2088, was introduced in May and is nearly identical in terms of the amount of damage it could cause to private property principle and right.

We must rally in defense of our most fundamental and important of basic human rights – private property! Without land ownership rights, all other freedoms are jeopardized.

Action to Take

1. Call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your representative by name. Tell them to remove the anti-private property language from this convoluted piece of legislation.

2. Call the Senate switchboard at (202) 225-3132 and tell your own senators how you feel about this sneaky attempt to steal your Constitutional rights.

3. For even greater impact, fax a message to House Resources Committee Chair Richard Pombo at (202) 226-0861 and let him know that you’re aware of this latest government scheme to control your property and that you want him to stop the legislation in his committee.

4. If the fax lines are busy, try calling Rep. Pombo directly at (202) 225-1947.

5. Click here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends!

Chumley Joins APC Staff

I am pleased to announce that Cheryl Chumley has joined the American Policy Center staff as associate editor of the APC Newswire and The DeWeese Report. Cheryl is an accomplished investigative journalist and her mission with APC is to dig in and get the hard facts so you will know the who and why behind government policy.

In her first few weeks on the job, Cheryl has produced an incredible volume of articles and reports, some of which you may read in this current issue of The DeWeese Report. Cheryl represents the beginning of a stronger, harder edge to the American Policy Center as we step up our efforts to combat those policies which threaten our liberty.