[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3234]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF ``THE AMERICAN LAND SOVEREIGNTY PROTECTION ACT''

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 1, 1999

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, today, on behalf of myself and 126 
cosponsors I am introducing the American Land Sovereignty Protection 
Act. Last Congress, this bill, known as H.R. 901, passed the House by a 
vote of 236-191. I am confident that this Congress will pass the 
American Land Sovereignty Protection Act.
  H.R. 901 will: (1) prevent the Executive Branch from using World 
Heritage Site, Biosphere Reserve, and RAMSAR designations to guide 
domestic land use policies without consulting Congress, (2) restore 
meaningful Congressional oversight of these programs, (3) protect the 
rights of owners on non-federal lands adjacent to or intermixed with 
these land reserves, and (4) protect our domestic land use decision-
making process from international interference.
  United Nations' land designations, such as UNESCO Biosphere Reserves 
and World Heritage Sites, currently take place without the approval of 
Congress and virtually no Congressional oversight. The Constitutional 
power of Congress ``to dispose of and make all needful Rules and 
Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the 
United States'' cannot be bargained away by the President in a Treaty.
  International land use designations, such as the Biosphere Reserve 
program, also enable the Executive Branch to implement international 
treaties, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, without 
ratification by the United States Senate. For example, a prime 
objective of the biosphere reserve program is to create a national 
network of biosphere reserves that will implement Article 6 of the 
Convention on Biological Diversity.
  The Biosphere Reserve program is not authorized by a single U.S. law 
nor is it even governed by an international treaty. That is wrong. 
Executive branch appointees cannot and should not do things that the 
law does not authorize.
  Congress must act to keep international commitments from interfering 
with Constitutional rights, such as the right to own property, 
guaranteed all American citizens. Our system may be messy at times, but 
it is designed to protect rights that Americans value, rights which are 
only a dream for citizens of many other countries. Otherwise, the 
rights of our citizens and the boundary between public land managed by 
the government and private property can be too easily ignored.
  The public and local governments are almost never consulted about 
creating World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves. Designation 
efforts are almost always driven by unelected federal bureaucrats. 
Despite claims to the contrary by proponents of these programs, World 
Heritage Sites and Biosphere Reserves face strong local opposition.
  So that everyone understands, my concern is that the United States 
Congress--and therefore the people of the United States--have been left 
out of the domestic process to designate Biosphere Reserves and World 
Heritage sites. This legislation restores the Constitutional role of 
Congress in governing lands belonging to the United States thereby 
making the people of this country relevant in this process.
  The American Land Sovereignty Protection Act requires that Congress 
approve international land designations in the United States on a case 
by case basis, because according to the United States Constitution, 
Congress possesses the ultimate decision-making power over lands 
belonging to the people of the United States.

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