CONGRESS VOTES TO SCREW THE PUBLIC, AGAIN....
Pasted below is a news release which provides a clear explanation of how,
late this afternoon, the immensely unpopular Recreation Access Tax was
approved by the US House of Representatives. When this bill is signed by
President Bush, the 8-year old Recreation Fee Demonstration Program will be
repealed and the RAT will officially take its place.
I'd like to thank each and every person who has fought the RAT. Were it not
for a complete breakdown of the democratic process, the RAT would remain but
a greed-driven fantasy of its tourism industry promoters, the American
Recreation Coalition. But today the ARC prevailed and in persuading
Representative Regula (R-OH) to push this bill with nearly insane
determination, the RAT is about be forced upon an unreceptive public over
the objection of an unwilling Senate.
Having thanked you for what you've done, I now want to thank you for what I
know you will do in the months ahead. The RAT can not survive, not if the
American birthright of free access to our mountains, rivers, deserts and
lakes is to survive. The RAT, however, will not die on its own accord. It
will have to be killed.
Over a period of months and perhaps longer, you will be presented with
multiple opportunities to help destroy the RAT. Your first opportunity will
come tomorrow when I would ask you to PLEASE convey your disappointment in a
short letter addressed to the editor of your local newspaper. By raising
the visibility for this increasingly contentious issue, Congress will
eventually respond to, if not acquiesce to, the will of the majority. They
will either do so, or The People will eventually come to believe that the
democratic system is broken and will demand change.
Some will say that the RAT is no big deal. Some said that a tax upon tea
was no big deal either....
Editor, Wild Wilderness. www.wildwilderness.org
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"That these are our grievances which we have thus laid
before his majesty, with that freedom of language and
sentiment which becomes a free people claiming their
rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the
gift of their chief magistrate." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1774
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WESTERN SLOPE NO-FEE COALITION
P.O. Box 403, Norwood, CO 81423
970/259-4616
wsnfc@hotmail.com
December 6, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information:
Robert Funkhouser, 802/235-2299, rfunk9999@earthlink.net
Kitty Benzar, 970/259-4616, wsnfc@hotmail.com
WESTERN OUTCRY FAILS TO STOP OHIO CONGRESSMAN'S
RECREATIONAL ACCESS TAX
Despite a last-minute outpouring of letters and phone calls and a flood of
negative editorials, an Ohio congressman with no public lands in his
district has forced a measure through Congress to implement permanent access
fees for recreation on all land managed by the Forest Service, Bureau of
Land Management, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Reclamation.
Ralph Regula (R-OH), the original architect of the unpopular Recreational
Fee Demonstration Program (Fee Demo), attached his bill as a rider to the
giant omnibus appropriations bill. Originally passed on November 20, the
omnibus unexpectedly had to be revisited by Congress because of language
objectionable to privacy-rights groups that would have allowed certain
members of Congress to scrutinize individual tax returns. The omnibus bill
passed Monday evening, December 6th.
Opponents of Regula's bill seized the opportunity to mobilize a massive
phone call and letter-writing campaign in a last-ditch attempt to delete it
before the final vote. Despite thousands of letters and phone calls and
press coverage coast to coast, the effort failed. Fee opponents have vowed
to take their fight to the next Congress.
The fee bill, HR 3283 or the "Recreational Access Tax" (RAT), allows the
federal land management agencies to charge access fees for recreational use
of public lands by the general public. It has been highly controversial and
is opposed by hundreds of organizations, state legislatures, county
governments and rural Americans.
"This is a bad bill and it is a bad tax. It will not be accepted by the
American people," said Robert Funkhouser, President of the Western Slope
No-Fee Coalition, one of the groups coordinating opposition to public lands
fees. "It was forced through without passing the House or any hearings or
debate, much less a vote in the Senate. Such a major change in policy should
be done in an open public process, not behind closed doors. Congressman
Regula has sold out America's precious heritage of public lands."
Key provisions of the RAT include permanent recreation fee authority for
National Forests and BLM land as well as all land managed by the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the National Park
Service. Failure to pay the fees will be a criminal offense. Drivers,
owners, and occupants of vehicles not displaying either a daily or annual
pass will be presumed guilty of failure to pay and can all be charged,
without obligation by the government to prove their guilt. The measure
encourages agencies to contract with private companies and other
non-governmental entities to manage public lands. The bill also establishes
a national, interagency annual pass called the America the Beautiful Pass,
expected to cost $85-$100 initially.
"Congressman Regula has claimed that fees will be limited to only highly
developed facilities," said Funkhouser. "But the actual language is very
broad and contains internal contradictions. The RAT prohibits entrance fees
for Forest Service and BLM managed lands on one hand and authorizes basic or
standard fees for the very same lands on the other. It gives the agencies a
free hand to decide how large an area a fee can apply to, and it calls for
essentially only a toilet in order to qualify. Make no mistake, this bill
transfers ownership of our public lands from the taxpaying public to the
agencies. These agencies have a long history of financial bungling and
mismanagement, and should have more congressional oversight, not less."
Fee opponents plan to work closely with the incoming 109th Congress to
repeal the Regula bill, and anticipate strong bipartisan support in both
houses. In the meantime, the Western Slope No-Fee Coalition will be
monitoring agency implementation of the RAT to ensure that the agencies do
not implement fees outside this new law. Regula's bill failed to attract a
single western sponsor but was co-sponsored by seven eastern congressmen.
Regula is seeking to become Chairman of the powerful House Appropriations
Committee and is running into stiff opposition from Congressmen Jerry Lewis
(R-CA) and Hal Rogers (R-KY). While Regula has no public land in his
district, both Lewis and Rogers districts have vast tracks of Forest Service
and/or BLM managed public lands.
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Any single man must judge for himself whether
circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to
the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all
qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to
evaluate the conduct of our rulers.
This political judgment, moreover, is not simply
or primarily a right, but like self-preservation,
a duty to god. As such it is a judgment that men
cannot part with according to the god of nature.
It is the first and foremost of our inalienable
rights without which we can preserve no other. -- John Locke |
