[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 19087-19090]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      SUPPORTING THE REMOVAL OF ILLICIT MARIJUANA ON FEDERAL LANDS

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1540) supporting the goal of 
eradicating illicit marijuana cultivation on Federal lands and calling 
on the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to 
develop a coordinated strategy to permanently dismantle Mexican drug 
trafficking organizations operating on Federal lands, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 1540

       Whereas Mexican drug trafficking organizations and other 
     criminal groups have established robust and dangerous 
     marijuana plantations on Federal lands managed by the United 
     States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management;
       Whereas the Office of National Drug Control Policy reported 
     that 1,800,000 marijuana plants were eradicated from Federal 
     lands in 2006, 2,890,000 marijuana plants were eradicated in 
     2007, and 4,000,000 marijuana plants were eradicated in 2008;
       Whereas former Director of National Drug Control Policy 
     John P. Walters declared in 2007: ``America's public lands 
     are under attack. Instead of being appreciated as national 
     treasures, they are being exploited and destroyed by foreign 
     drug trafficking organizations and heavily armed Mexican 
     marijuana cartels who have turned them into ground zero for 
     drug cultivation. These violent drug traffickers are 
     endangering America's outdoor enthusiasts and sportsmen, and 
     the sensitive ecosystems of our wilderness.'';

[[Page 19088]]

       Whereas the illicit drug trade undermines the rule of law 
     and has a detrimental impact in communities across our 
     Nation;
       Whereas Mexican drug traffickers use the revenue generated 
     from marijuana production on Federal lands to support 
     criminal activities, including human trafficking and illicit 
     weapons smuggling, and to foster political unrest in Mexico;
       Whereas drug traffickers have committed acts of violence 
     against United States citizens and have fired upon law 
     enforcement officers to protect their marijuana crops;
       Whereas on October 8, 2000, an 8-year-old boy and his 
     father were shot by drug traffickers while hunting in El 
     Dorado National Forest;
       Whereas on June 16, 2009, law enforcement officers with the 
     Lassen County Sheriff's Department were wounded by gunfire 
     from drug traffickers during the investigation of a marijuana 
     plantation on Bureau of Land Management property;
       Whereas drug traffickers place booby traps that contain 
     live shotgun shells on marijuana plantations;
       Whereas the American people should not be subjected to 
     violence while enjoying our Nation's recreation areas;
       Whereas marijuana plantations pose a significant threat to 
     the environmental health of Federal lands;
       Whereas drug traffickers spray considerable quantities of 
     unregulated chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers;
       Whereas drug traffickers divert streams and other waterways 
     to construct complex irrigation systems;
       Whereas it costs the Federal Government $11,000 to restore 
     one acre of forest on which marijuana is being cultivated;
       Whereas the Federal Government is fundamentally responsible 
     for protecting our Nation's Federal lands and the citizens 
     who recreate on them;
       Whereas local law enforcement agencies currently play a 
     vital role in eradicating marijuana cultivation and enforcing 
     Federal drug laws on Federal lands;
       Whereas coordination among Federal agencies and among 
     Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies is 
     essential to curtailing marijuana growth on Federal lands;
       Whereas targeted joint law enforcement interdiction raids 
     have brought forth significant but short-lived successes in 
     combating marijuana production on Federal lands;
       Whereas Federal law enforcement should develop and pursue a 
     strategy that seeks to eradicate the illicit production of 
     marijuana on Federal lands, and to investigate, detain, and 
     bring drug traffickers to justice; and
       Whereas the creation of a long-term, Federal-led strategy 
     is essential to eliminating illicit marijuana cultivation on 
     Federal lands: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) declares that drug trafficking organizations 
     cultivating illicit marijuana on Federal lands in the United 
     States pose an unacceptable threat to the safety of law 
     enforcement and the public;
       (2) affirms that it is the responsibility of the Federal 
     Government to confront the threat of illicit marijuana 
     cultivation on Federal lands; and
       (3) calls upon the Director of the Office of National Drug 
     Control Policy to work in conjunction with Federal and State 
     agencies to develop a comprehensive and coordinated strategy 
     to permanently dismantle Mexican drug trafficking 
     organizations and other criminal groups operating on Federal 
     lands.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. 
Lungren) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia.


                             General Leave

  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and to include extraneous material on the resolution under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Virginia?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 1540 supports the goal of eliminating 
illegal marijuana cultivation on Federal lands, and calls on the 
Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy to develop a 
coordinated strategy to defeat Mexican drug trafficking organizations 
and other criminal groups.
  Marijuana growers have begun to use public lands because of their 
remoteness and difficulty in seizing or tracing the drugs to any 
specific owner. These large-scale plantations are being operated by 
well-armed and well-financed Mexican drug trafficking organizations and 
other criminal groups. Law enforcement officials report that the 
criminal groups that grow marijuana on Federal forest lands will shoot 
at police or at any other unwelcome visitors in order to protect their 
crops.
  The National Drug Intelligence Center in the Department of Justice 
issued a national drug threat assessment in February in which it 
reported that the number of marijuana plants removed from public lands 
had increased by more than 300 percent from just 2004 to 2008. This 
increase was spurred primarily by marijuana crops overseen by Mexican 
drug cartels.
  In 2008, a separate National Drug Intelligence Center report on 
cartel-related drug trafficking organizations found that the federation 
and other undetermined cartels were active in Oregon. In addition, a 
recent Drug Enforcement Agency investigation uncovered evidence of 
growers cultivating marijuana on public lands in Oregon and California.
  The goal of this resolution is to bring attention to this illicit 
cartel activity and to encourage officials to develop an interagency 
strategy to stop drug cartels from using Federal lands for large-scale 
illegal drug crop operations.
  I urge my colleagues to support the resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as one of its cosponsors, I rise in support of House 
Resolution 1540. This draws much needed attention to a problem as 
suggested by my friend, the gentleman from Virginia, which is the 
cultivation of marijuana on our Federal lands.
  There is no doubt that, oh, 15 years ago, when I was Attorney General 
of California, we saw that Mexican cartels had basically taken over 
this trade in our State and that they were largely operating on Federal 
lands, on non-private lands. Of course, in the State of California, I 
believe the Federal Government owns about 49 percent of our State--a 
lot of that forest lands and wilderness areas. These are the areas that 
these cartels are converting into farms for illegal marijuana crops. 
They are damaging our protected ecosystems there, and they are 
threatening the safety of visitors and employees. In fact, the DEA 
calls marijuana the ``cash crop'' that finances drug cartels' drug 
trafficking operations.
  Marijuana is grown in remote areas of public lands, where there is a 
limited law enforcement presence. The two primary regions for these 
marijuana sites are the Western Region, comprised of California, 
Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington; and the Appalachian Region, including 
Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
  This year, when I was visiting one of my counties, the smallest 
population county in the State of California, Alpine County, which has 
parts of several U.S. forests and a couple of wilderness areas, the 
under sheriff told me of some of the largest finds that they had made 
in those areas. They were finds that were unexpected and finds that 
were difficult to discover precisely because there are so few people 
who live in these areas. Of course, we designate them as wilderness 
areas and as forest lands. In many cases, they are not that often 
visited by citizens of the United States. The people who recreate these 
areas do so, enjoying the environment. These pristine lands of our 
National Forest system are therefore particularly enticing to these 
drug trafficking organizations as the dense, expansive forests that we 
find in these areas provide optimum marijuana-growing conditions with 
very little risk of detection.
  America's National Forest system, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, 
is comprised of 193 million acres of land with 153,000 miles of trails 
and nearly 18,000 recreation sites, but we only have a little under 200 
sworn officers and detectives who patrol this vast, expansive land, 
including 36 million acres of wilderness area.
  The members of these cartels hike deep into the forests, fell trees, 
and clear away brush to plant their marijuana crops. They construct 
rudimentary irrigation systems, and divert water from local creeks or 
streams.

[[Page 19089]]

They use these to water the plants. They use Miracle-Gro or other 
fertilizers, and they even lace the area with animal-killing chemicals. 
It's obvious they don't file for EPA permits or anything like that.
  They are destroying much of the beautiful natural resources that we 
have in these areas. We have discovered that the cartel members set up 
camp nearby and patrol the areas for intruders; and sometimes, when 
innocent American citizens are traveling through these areas, they are 
encountered by these individuals. More and more, we see that these 
members of the cartels have lethal weapons with them, even automatic 
weapons.
  The Justice Department reports that these cartels, particularly in 
the States of Washington and California, are becoming increasingly 
aggressive in protecting the marijuana fields. We have found assault 
rifles, and we have found them engaging in standoffs with law 
enforcement officers. I would say, in my most rural counties, we do not 
have the largest law enforcement departments. That, combined with the 
very few people we have from the Federal Government's law enforcement, 
make it a prime area for these drug cartels to take over and make it 
dangerous, as I say, for law-abiding citizens, who want nothing but to 
recreate in these areas, to utilize these facilities.
  I will say, late this summer/early this fall, we got tremendous 
support from the Forest Service and from other elements of the Federal 
Government in support of our effort to try and clean out these areas 
and also to protect our local law enforcement officers as they were 
working on it. In 2010, more than 3 million marijuana plants were 
seized from Forest Service lands in practically every region of the 
country. Now, this is a dramatic increase from 2004 when fewer than 
750,000 plants were seized.
  Once their illegal crops are harvested, the growers then abandon the 
sites, and they leave their garbage and their destruction behind. These 
fields are easy to plant, easy to harvest, but difficult to eradicate. 
Law enforcement officers must patrol the thick forest canopy from the 
sky, hoping to glimpse a marijuana grow site.

                              {time}  1640

  They must then fly or hike into the site, hoping that they won't be 
confronted by armed guards or boobytraps. These marijuana sites not 
only pose a danger to law enforcement officials, park employees, and 
visitors, but as I say, to the very natural resources the forest 
designation is intended to protect.
  Marijuana fields utilized by these illegal cartels cause extensive 
long-term damage to the forest ecosystems and deplete the drinking 
water supplies for neighboring communities. Just last month, the Forest 
Service removed more than 10 cubic yards of garbage from six abandoned 
marijuana grow sites in northern California. The Forest Service reports 
that it cost approximately $30,000 to remove the marijuana and restore 
the ecosystem of each of the 622 marijuana sites discovered in the 
national forest system for fiscal year 2010. That is a cost of over $18 
million in taxpayer dollars to rid our forests of these illegal 
marijuana grows.
  It is imperative that Congress and the administration make a 
commitment to put an end to the marijuana sites on Federal land and 
protect our precious natural resources from any further destruction.
  I commend my colleague from California (Mr. Herger) for his tireless 
efforts to address this growing problem and as I say, I was proud to 
join him in this case as an original cosponsor of H. Res. 1540. I urge 
my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the author of the bill, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Herger).
  Mr. HERGER. I thank my good friend from California for yielding me 
the time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge my colleagues to support House Resolution 
1540, which I introduced to expose a growing crisis on public lands in 
my northern California congressional district and across the Nation. 
Mexican drug cartels are operating large-scale marijuana plantations on 
these lands, and the problem is getting worse by the day.
  I recently joined law enforcement in a marijuana eradication raid in 
the forests of Shasta County, California, and saw firsthand the 
flourishing productivity of these foreign drug traffickers. 
Unfortunately, the Federal Government has not taken sufficient action 
to dismantle them, and a comprehensive strategy is long overdue.
  These foreign drug cartels pose a severe threat to public safety. 
They are heavily armed and have repeatedly fired at law enforcement 
officers to protect their illegal crops. They endanger the lives of 
outdoorsmen who too frequently have been confronted by violent 
criminals while simply trying to enjoy their public lands. They use the 
drug profits to fund a multitude of violent crimes and provoke the 
political unrest in Mexico that could threaten our national security. 
They cause grave and costly damage to our environment, leaving behind 
tons of trash and dangerous chemicals and costing taxpayers an 
estimated $11,000 to restore each acre of forest damaged by marijuana 
cultivation.
  Mr. Speaker, our national forests should be a safe haven for families 
and recreation enthusiasts, not Mexican drug cartels. The American 
people should not have to fear for their safety while on a family 
camping trip. Taxpayers in our Nation should not have to bear the 
financial burden of the damage caused by drug traffickers. And the 
United States should never allow foreign cartels to reign free on the 
sovereign territory of our Nation. Let me say emphatically that these 
drug trafficking organizations must be pursued relentlessly, shut down 
permanently, and brought to justice unconditionally.
  House Resolution 1540 spells out the crisis occurring on our public 
lands and affirms that the Federal Government must do more to confront 
this threat. It calls upon the Director of the Office of National Drug 
Control Policy to work in conjunction with Federal and State agencies 
to develop a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to permanently 
dismantle the foreign drug trafficking organizations that have found a 
sanctuary on these lands. It is an important first step designed to 
both shine the light on this unacceptable menace and to demand that 
Federal law enforcement agencies take more aggressive, more persistent, 
and more effective action to shut them down for good.
  I want to thank Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith for their 
commitment to addressing this serious threat to public safety and to 
our national sovereignty. I urge my colleagues to vote for this 
resolution.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis).
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, this resolution is seemingly innocuous, for 
who in this body would be against illicit agriculture on our Federal 
lands, and yet it gives you reason to wonder why we're not facing a 
crisis of illicit corn production, illicit potato production, illicit 
tobacco production on our Federal lands of the magnitude of the crisis 
of marijuana production involved with criminal enterprises on our 
Federal lands. This resolution only serves to perpetuate this failed 
policy of prohibition, which has led to the rise of the criminal 
production of marijuana on Federal lands.
  The gentleman from California said that the Federal Government must 
do more to confront this threat. I would submit that the Federal 
Government can do more by doing less. My home State of Colorado, the 
gentleman's home State of California, many other States have legalized 
and allowed for the medical use of marijuana, the production of 
marijuana, in a regulated capacity. The American public is split and a 
number of States continue to consider legalization for other uses as 
well. But as long as it remains illegal and as long as there is a 
market demand, the production will be driven underground. No matter how 
much we throw at enforcement, it will continue to be a threat not only 
to our Federal lands, but to our border security and to our safety 
within our country.

[[Page 19090]]

  The resolution states that, Whereas, Mexican drug traffickers use the 
revenue generated from marijuana production on Federal lands to support 
criminal activities, including human trafficking and illicit weapons 
smuggling, and to foster political unrest in Mexico. It is estimated 
that about half of the money that the Mexico cartels obtain is through 
the marijuana trade. Yes, by eliminating the failed policy of 
prohibition with regard to marijuana and replacing it with regulation 
we can cut the money to the criminal gangs by half--half the human 
trafficking, half the illicit weapons trafficking, half the casualties 
of the drug war--by focusing on the hard narcotic substances that are 
addictive and have enslaved a generation of youth.
  I have no doubt that marijuana plantations, as the resolution states, 
pose a threat to the environmental health of Federal lands, that drug 
traffickers spray unregulated chemicals, pesticides, and fertilizers, 
but I submit that the best way to address that is to incorporate this 
into a meaningful and enforceable agricultural policy for the country 
with regard to the regulatory structure for the production of 
marijuana.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume just to say that I support this resolution.
  The concern is a considerable one. These cartels are in fact violent 
and vicious, and their violence has gone up over the last number of 
years, and it is affecting our districts very directly.
  I might say to the gentleman who just spoke that we happen to be one 
of the States that allows for medicinal marijuana, and it is not very 
difficult to get a medicinal purpose for marijuana. But we also had 
before the voters in the State of California an opportunity to decide 
whether or not they wanted to make it legal, and it was voted down by a 
substantial margin. That being the case, I think this resolution needs 
to go forward, and I would urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.

                              {time}  1650

  I would like to thank my colleagues from California, Mr. Herger and 
Mr. Lungren, for their advocacy on this issue. I urge my colleagues to 
support the resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 1540, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________