This is some very bad news for the people of rural Coos County. The Foundation that funds The Service just received $2.4 billion for new land acquisitions. The rat-bastards are using settlement money to destroy our local economy. Your county, your country needs your service. Please, contact your Congressman and Senators and TELL THEM TO STOP GIVING MONEY TO THE National Fish & Wildlife Foundation....Follow the information below before contacting your Representative.
Rob Taylor
Subject: Fw: Land Acquisition
Green Group Gets $2.4 Billion from BP Settlement
Date: December 4, 2012 11:47:17 AM PST
The Land Rights Network
American Land Rights Association
PO Box 400, Battle Ground, WA 98604
(360) 687-3087 – Fax: (360) 687-2973
[email protected]
Land Acquisition Green Group Gets $2.4 Billion from BP Settlement
Immediate Action by You Is Critical
Forward this message as widely as possible . . . . . quickly!
-----Attorney General Holder sneaks $2.4 billion to Obama Environmental allies.
AG Holder bypasses Congress to give National Fish and Wildlife Foundation $2.4 billion from the BP Oil Spill
Settlement.
-----You stopped the LWCF (Land and Water Conservation Fund land acquisition money) in August in Congress so Holder and Obama are going around through the back door.
-----Most of the National Fish and Wildlife slush fund will be used to buy land from private citizens, then transferring the land to the Federal government. This money will be a noose around the neck of rural America forever.
Just think, if the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation invests this $2.4 Billion it will likely get over $100,000,000 PER YEAR to buy land in perpetuity. They could buy all the farmland in Nevada over two or three years and then start on the rest of the country.
$100,000,000 is almost as much as the Land and Water Conservation Fund gets appropriated from Congress each year.
In effect, Holder and Obama have created a private LWCF, (Land and Water Conservation Fund) with no oversight from Congress or anyone. ..a giant slush fund to do the bidding of the extreme environmental groups.
The Congress should reduce funding for the Land and Water Conservation fund to make up for this backroom money grab.
-----Did you read about all the Nature Conservancy scandals in the Washington Post series in 2003 called “Big Green?”
-----If you like the massive land acquisition and social engineering by the Nature Conservancy and the Conservation Fund, you’ll love the Obama funded National Fish and Wildlife Foundation slush fund. It will
be a plague on rural America forever.
-----We have included in this e-mail below the last Washington Post article about “Big Green” from 2003 which summarizes the results of their investigation into the Nature Conservancy. Don’t fail to read it.
Finally, why should National Fish and Wildlife Foundation get the funds rather than the states that were affected by the BP Gulf spill.
The STATES, and the people in those states, should get the reparation money and be allowed to spend it on local conservation actions.
There is a huge list of species about to be listed in the Gulf States.
It makes more sense that the states, rather than some faceless bureaucrat in a multimillion-dollar land buying environmental group get the money so they can spend that money ANYWHERE.
Action Items:
-----1. Please forward this message to at least 10 people. Your whole list if possible.
-----2. Call both your Senators at (202) 224-3121. Urge them to request the Justice Department to hold up this funding of a private Environmental Trust Fund using the BP Settlement slush fund. As far as we know, there are no restrictions on how the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation can spend the money.
-----3. When you call your Senators, make sure to ask for the e-mail of the staff person you talk to. Send him or her e-mail.
-----4. Call your Congressman at (202) 225-3121. Follow the same instructions as above.
-----It’s critical that you call your Senators and Congressman every day next week.
-----Urge them to block the BP Slush Fund going to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to wipe
out private landowners and rural America.
-----Even if the Senate or House fails to pass a bill to stop this back room court settlement, they need to shine a light on the controversy to focus public attention on this Obama-Holder sneak attack on rural America.
-----5. Forward this message to your local newspaper. Do your own press release from your organization. You don’t have to have American Land Rights on it.
Background: From Energy and Environment Newsletter, Thursday, November 15, 2012
1. GULF SPILL: As lawmakers praise BP settlement, AG Holder says probe 'remains ongoing' .
Emily Yehle, E&E reporter
Published: Thursday, November 15, 2012
Lawmakers and environmentalists today praised a plea agreement that levies historic criminal fines on BP PLC for the Deepwater Horizon disaster, while emphasizing that it should be only the beginning of the oil giant's payout for the unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Justice Department announced today that BP will plead guilty to 11 felony counts of manslaughter for the workers killed in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion on April 20, 2010. The company has also
agreed to admit guilt to one misdemeanor count under the Clean Water Act, one misdemeanor count under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and one felony count of obstruction of Congress.
Under the terms of the agreement, BP will pay $4 billion to resolve the criminal claims, plus $535 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to compensate harmed investors from losses.
Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), who led Congress' investigation into the oil spill, held a news conference today applauding the Justice Department for imposing what they characterized as a deserved record-setting penalty. They highlighted one guilty plea that directly involved them: the felony count
of obstruction of Congress.
By pleading guilty to that, BP is acknowledging that it lied to Congress about how much oil was flowing into the Gulf, an issue Markey and Waxman investigated in the aftermath of the explosion.
"BP lied to me. They lied to the people of the Gulf. They lied to their shareholders. They lied to all Americans," said Markey, the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee.
Markey and Waxman also called for a speedy resolution to the civil charges the company still faces.
"We need to hold wrongdoers accountable," said Waxman, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "They have yet to be held civilly accountable."
Other lawmakers echoed that sentiment. The plea agreement is a "welcome step but closes only one chapter
in this story," said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who sits on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and heads an oversight committee sub-panel on federal financial management. Many federal, state and local
claims remain unresolved, requiring "vigilance," he said.
"We will unfortunately be grappling with the human and environmental costs levied by this disaster for many years. For many, no amount of money can adequately repair the damage caused by this spill," Carper
said. "But going forward, I will continue to focus my energy on ensuring that those responsible for this
disaster are held accountable to the impacted citizens living on our Gulf Coast and to all Americans, as well as on ensuring that taxpayers are not left footingm the bill for the effects of the spill."
Ongoing investigation. At a news conference today, Attorney General Eric Holder emphasized that the plea agreement pertained only to the criminal charges against BP, as well as SEC claims. The company still
faces civil charges, with a trial set for February. DOJ plans to "vigorously enforce" its complaint, which alleges that BP is guilty of "gross negligence."
"I want to be really, absolutely clear that today's resolution does not -- does not -- mark the end of our efforts," Holder said. "In fact, our criminal investigation remains ongoing."
DOJ officials also highlighted the fact that the plea agreement m stipulates that most of the fines will go to
conservation efforts for the Gulf Coast states, calling such a deal "historic." BP has agreed to pay almost $2.4 billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, while $350 million will go to the National Academy
of Sciences for an endowment that will fund research on improving drilling safety measures.
Environmental groups applauded that move, calling it a step forward that nonetheless is far less than what is needed to restore the Gulf Coast.
Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune was one of the harshest critics, criticizing the Justice Department for letting "BP off with a slap on the wrist after causing the largest oil disaster in American history."
"The Sierra Club is working to make sure that the remaining civil Clean Water Act and Oil Pollution Act lawsuits will result in penalties topping $60 billion, which better reflects the harm BP inflicted on the Gulf," he said. "We urge the Department of Justice to pursue the remaining legal charges vigorously, and bring BP to justice
for their crimes against Gulf families and businesses."
But Bethany Kraft, director of the Ocean Conservancy's Gulf Restoration Program, expressed hope that the settlement would "set the stage" for record fines for the civil charges, which could add up to much more than $4 billion. National Wildlife President Larry Schweiger also called the settlement a "good down payment."
"There's still a lot of work to be done when it comes to penalizing the parties responsible for the Gulf oil disaster through the civil provisions of the Oil Pollution Act and the Clean Water Act, but this criminal settlement marks important progress and devotes much-needed resources toward restoration," he said.
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*-----Here’s an article from the Washington Post in 2003 that summarizes the results from a series in the
Washington Post called “Big Green” describing many abuses by the Nature Conservancy. We
believe that $2.4 Billion given to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation with no strings and oversight offers the opportunity to repeat these kinds of abuses. *
* **By Joe Stephens and David Ottaway*
Washington Post Staff Writers
Washington Post
Tuesday, May 13, 2003; Page A03
The Nature Conservancy has suspended a range of practices, including the sale of ecologically sensitive land to its trustees as home sites, in the wake of press accounts describing the Arlington-based nonprofit's activities and concerns expressed by some of its 1 million members.
The Conservancy, the world's richest environmental group, said it has halted all "conservation buyer" real estate transactions until the charity's board of governors reviews the practice in June. A Washington Post series last week reported that many buyers have been current and former Conservancy state trustees.
The Senate Finance Committee's chairman and ranking Democrat announced last week that they plan
to look into the sales, which are designed to limit intrusive development but generally allow buyers to construct
houses.
Under the program, the charity buys raw land, attaches some development restrictions and then resells the properties to supporters at greatly reduced prices. Buyers give the Conservancy cash payments for roughly the amount of the discount, a sum that is then written off the buyers' federal income taxes.
Other articles described how the Conservancy's board and leadership council today include executives and directors from corporations that have paid millions in environmental fines. The series also showed how
the 52-year-old charity's alliances with Fortune 500 companies had helped it amass assets totaling more
than $3 billion. In a statement posted on the Conservancy Web site, nature.org <http://nature.org/> , the
organization said it also has:
• Suspended all new logging and other "resource extraction activities" on its nature preserves. The Post articles
detailed how in Texas City, Tex., the organization had drilled for oil and natural gas under the last native breeding ground of a highly endangered species of grouse known as the Attwater's prairie chicken. The suspension will not stop natural gas production on the Texas preserve, a spokesman said.
• Suspended all new "cause-related marketing partnerships." The articles told how the Conservancy had sold its name and logo for use on consumer goods, including toilet cleaner and other products made by corporations whose executives and directors had sat on the Conservancy's governing board and advisory council.
• Suspended all new loans to employees. The articles disclosed that the Conservancy had extended a $1.55 million loan to its president, Steven J. McCormick, and then misidentified the interest rate. After being questioned by reporters, McCormick repaid the loan. The Conservancy statement criticized The Post series, titled "Big Green," for containing what it described as "mischaracterizations" and a "lack of context." Even so, the organization plans a detailed review of the programs discussed.
"We take the broad issues the articles raised very seriously," the statement said. "The Conservancy's Board of Governors will dedicate its entire June meeting to a frank and open discussion of our practices, policies, and procedures. The board will focus on the Post's specific charges. . . .
"We will be paying particularly close attention to issues relating to how we engage and work with our Board and state chapter trustees. We are committed to making permanent and substantive changes where needed."
The meeting will be closed to Conservancy members, but will include time for "some sort of public discussion," a spokesman said.
Over the past week, the Conservancy's board has paid for three full-page advertisements in The Post, each stressing the organization's accomplishments and its dedication to preserving undeveloped land. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Finance Committee, and ranking Democrat Max Baucus of Montana are
drafting a letter to the Conservancy seeking answers to a range of concerns about the land deals and other governance issues.
"Taxpayers have the right to know how the Nature Conservancy conducts its business," Grassley said in a statement on Friday. "I'll be overseeing the charity's actions, asking tough questions and following through until satisfactory answers are given."
2003 The Washington Post Company
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This is the time for all out networking. This backdoor dark of night sneak attack on rural America must be stopped.
Thank you for your help and support.
Chuck Cushman,
American Land Rights
[email protected]
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Important Public Meeting: The Bureau of Land Management
This Land is... the Government's