"TN lawmaker says green policies are part of secret U.N. plot
1:26 AM, Mar. 9, 2012 |
TN House passes resolution condemning U.N.'s Agenda 21
Area leaders defend local regulations against Agenda 21 claims
Property activists challenge planners
A resolution in the state legislature opposes what is depicted as an insidious United Nations scheme to take away citizens' property rights through radical environmentalism.
The legislation, which refers to "Agenda 21," is pending as planners and property rights advocates spar over a series of bills related to how development should be regulated.
Several were deferred Wednesday in the House State and Local Government subcommittee. The separate House Joint Resolution 0587, which passed the full committee Tuesday, is expected to go to the House floor for a vote as early as next week.
Agenda 21, a nonbinding U.N. plan adopted by at least 178 governments in 1992, talks about the need to work together to find ways to ensure clean water and air and stable food supplies as the planet's population grows, along with hunger and poverty.
The 20-year-old program is viewed by some as a plot for world dominance.
The proposed resolution says that global political control is one of the intentions of the U.N. program and that it is being covertly pushed into local communities through policies that incorporate words like "sustainable development," "green" or "regional visioning."
Parts of the resolution word for word are found in a model Stop Agenda 21 bill that the John Birch Society offers on its website. The 54-year-old organization, which opposed the Civil Rights Act, fights efforts that include what it paints as a conspiracy to impose one-world government.
The resolution, which equates Agenda 21 with socialism and communism, endorses rejection of the program's "radical policies" and "any grant monies attached to it."
Rep. Rick Womick of Rutherford County, one of the resolution's sponsors, said Tuesday that the U.N. created multiple political subdivisions and independent shadow organizations in a stealth move to work with towns and cities and undermine rights.
He said the "grandiose plan" is meant to stop economic growth and includes telling people they must, for instance, set aside wetlands or regulate against urban sprawl.
"It's about taking property rights away from people," said Womick, R-Rockvale. "People are fed up with government interfering with their lives."
Womick said the Council for Local Environmental Initiatives is one of the U.N. groups worming its way into local activities — in Nashville, for one — to do harm.
According to Bonna Johnson, spokeswoman for Mayor Karl Dean, Nashville, like many other cities has been a member of the group, which provides technical assistance and standardized software for greenhouse gas inventory tracking.
"Our two years as ICLEI members was a positive experience, but we have finished that tracking project, and last year we discontinued the city's membership in the ICLEI," she said.
The group, which is not part of the United Nations, is a nonprofit association of local, regional and national governments and organizations pursuing sustainable development. It promotes itself as providing technical consulting and assistance to government bodies to meet their own goals, which could include saving energy and money, addressing climate change and creating more livable communities.
Mary Pat Williams Silveira of Nashville worked on Agenda 21 from its beginning during her 30-year career at the United Nations and said the resolution is off base.
"I would be surprised if the people have read it and, if they have, that they understand the intent behind it," said Silveira, who retired as a senior official in the U.N. Division for Sustainable Development.
She describes it as a "comprehensive blueprint for global action but not global control." Among what it covers are social, economic and environmental issues and integrated decision making. It's to encourage people at a local level to discuss how best to design their communities.
Bills postponed
Womick took House Bill 3571 off notice Wednesday, meaning it will not be considered again this year. That bill would ban local governments and other entities from taking part in programs with ICLEI or a few other groups.
Another he proposed, House Bill 3572, was deferred. That bill says property rights means not having to follow any "smart growth" plans, including accommodating greenways or bike lanes.
Trip Pollard with the Southern Environmental Law Center said conspiracy talk has popped up around the South in connection with efforts to plan for the future, including when programs are proposed to promote energy efficiency.
"I've been called a U.N. tool and part of a communist plot," he said.
"Sustainability is not a plot. It is a good thing. It means we will try to use our resources and develop more wisely so we can pass healthy air and water on to future generations."
The accusations in relation to the U.N. have surfaced over nonpartisan efforts in Tennessee to set aside natural areas and establish land trusts that protect environmentally sensitive lands as well as areas that are scenic and have historical or cultural significance.
"Agenda 21 is entirely voluntary and innocuous," said Mark Potok, a senior fellow of the Southern Poverty Law Center. "It's not legally binding. They're ginning up fears all around the country based on a conspiracy theory that holds no water whatsoever."
Georgia and New Hampshire are among other states that have had anti-Agenda 21 bills introduced this year.
Co-sponsors of the resolution in addition to Womick, all Republicans, include Joe Carr of Lascassas, Debra Maggart of Hendersonville, Phillip Johnson of Pegram, Jim Gotto of Hermitage, Judd Matheny of Tullahoma, Joshua Evans of Greenbrier, Glen Casada of College Grove, Mike Sparks of Smyrna, Sheila Butt of Columbia, Joey Hensley of Hohenwald and Ryan Williams of Cookeville."
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