[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 8, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11910-H11911]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 AMERICAN WEST SEEKS TO REDRESS WRONGS PERPETRATED AGAINST ITS CITIZENS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening on behalf of an oft 
misunderstood segment of our society, those who live in the American 
West. I bring before this House tonight a document signed by many of my 
constituents. The document, on parchment, was taken off the No. 2 liner 
board machine, which is now out of commission at Stone Container in 
Snowflake, AZ.
  The document starts, in its preamble, with a quotation from our 
Declaration of Independence and then, in the main portion of this 
document, a statement of concerns about our freedoms issued October 6 
of this year, the following is stated:

       In this year 1995, we again find a need to petition our 
     government to redress wrongs being perpetrated against its 
     citizens:
       1. Congress has passed laws establishing Federal agencies, 
     then has not monitored the severe impact of regulations put 
     forth by the agencies which go far beyond the intent of the 
     Congress. This represents a usurpation of power by agencies 
     not delegated by Congress nor established by a vote of the 
     people.
       2. Congress has passed laws which are severe and 
     inflexible, causing major economic and social damages to our 
     citizens and to our communities. The Endangered Species Act 
     is one such law.
       The Endangered Species Act is being used to stop all 
     natural resource development; mining, oil, timber, farming 
     and ranching. Destroying the wealth of our Nation and 
     breaking economic hardship upon Americans.
       The Endangered Species Act is being used to close our 
     forests, denying access to all people in Arizona for wood 
     products necessary to sustain their families. Leaving our 
     forests without the tools necessary to thin and maintain 
     forest health.
       The Endangered Species Act is being used to deny citizens 
     the right to protect their property from flooding.
       The Endangered Species Act is being used to take patented 
     water rights and to stop development on private property.
       The Endangered Species Act is being used to close land to 
     livestock use.
       At every stage of these oppressive actions we have 
     petitioned for redress in the most humble of terms. Our 
     repeated petitions have been answered by repeated injury. We, 
     therefore, the undersigned citizens of the United States of 
     America, appealing for the rectitude of our problems, do 
     solemnly publish and demand that our rights be restored and 
     that the abusive power of the numerous Federal agencies be 
     curtailed and brought into conformity with the law; that 
     severe and inflexible laws such as the endangered Species Act 
     be reformed.
       We do declare this day that we the people will use every 
     lawful means to bring our elected officials to 
     accountability.

  As one of those elected officials, Mr. Speaker, I was pleased to sign 
this document, because I believe it resonates with the freedoms 
outlined in this document, the Constitution of the United States, a 
document sacred in the ayes of many which is a document of limited and 
enumerated powers. And this Congress must stand, as we prepare to face 
a new century, to recognize the fact that, as this document outlines, 
quite often regulatory agencies have overstepped their bounds, 
especially in the western United States.
  Mr. Speaker, I said at the outset that the citizenry of the western 
United States is oft misunderstood; that their intent is often 
maligned. It comes as no great surprise. Indeed, one such person, once 
called an advocate for Arizona, has become a disciple of the District 
of Columbia. The Secretary of Interior has told the American people at 
least on two occasions, once at Tufts University, he said and I quote, 
``Those holding opinions of the environment different from ours'', and 
he was addressing people who felt as he did about the environment, and 
this is a direct quote, ``are guilty of the worst sneak attack upon 
America since Pearl Harbor''.
  Mr. Speaker, that type of extremist rhetoric has no place in this 
debate. Good people can disagree, but there is no sneak attack being 
launched by the citizenry of the western United States. Instead, by 
regulatory fiat self-appointed legislators, both in the regulatory 
agencies and, indeed, on the Federal bench, have stepped forward to 
declare a war on the way of life, to declare a war on the hard working 
law 

[[Page H 11911]]
abiding citizens of the western United States.
  Friends, this is not about extremism, at least not from the 
standpoint of rural westerners. This is about what is reasonable and 
what is rational, not what is radical. Indeed, the radical talk comes 
not only from the Secretary of Interior but from the President of the 
United States, who, in his radio address last Saturday, used the most 
demagogic of terms to mischaracterize the plight of westerners.
  Friends, what we seek is balance. Economic balance, environmental 
balance, and true conservation for the United States of America.

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