THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 2, 1995 TAG: 9504020016
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW BERN LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
It was standing room only in the Craven County Courthouse on Saturday.
Supporters of federal environmental laws squared off against private property owners before two Republican-controlled congressional task forces studying wetlands reform and the future of the Endangered Species Act.
U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo, R-Calif., said Saturday's hearing and six other hearings across the country are being held ``to reach out to individuals and local government officials who have experience with federal wetlands and endangered species programs.''
``We seek input from those who do not normally have an opportunity to tell their story to the Congress,'' he said.
But several area environmental groups and local fishing trade groups said their input was not wanted.
At a press conference before the hearings, an N.C. State University researcher, two commercial fishermen and one local environmental activist said the committee deliberately stacked the deck with panels of witnesses who want to disband many of the federal government's environmental protection programs.
``There's nothing wrong with the political process as long as it's fair and balanced,'' said Rick Dove of New Bern. ``We have had reports from Louisiana and Texas that this is a hostile panel.
``We just don't want a false or a bad record to be taken back to Washington.''
U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., angrily denied the charges that the committee was biased.
``That's the extremists talking again,'' he said in an interview before the hearing. ``They should have gotten the message on Nov. 8 that people are tired of the liberal agenda.''
Only the Republican members of the task forces attended the hearings, and of those, all but the chairman were freshmen.
Two panels of farmers, forestry interests and other private landowners told the congressional panels that government wetlands and endangered species policies have placed a hardship on them.
Craig Sawyer, a farmer from Camden, said disagreements among several federal officials over how much of his family's 485-acre tract of land in Camden County is wetlands have caused a financial hardship.
``Farmers have to deal with more agencies than anyone else, and these agencies used different manuals and different methods to arrive at different answers on my land, costing me great expense and time,'' said Sawyer.
But two area commercial fishermen told the lawmakers that tight controls, better enforcement of existing regulations and careful land-use planning are needed to ensure that their way of life survives.
``We need to maintain and strengthen our existing wetland protection laws, not eviscerate them for short-term economic windfalls,'' said Melvin Shepard, president of the N.C. Coastal Federation and a commercial fisherman from Sneads Ferry. ``If you remember only one thing from my testimony, please remember this: No wetlands, no seafood.''
Rep. Pombo said the panels are trying to seek a balance between environmental regulations and property rights.
``I don't believe anyone here or in Congress wants to waste our resources or see the extinction of valuable plants and animals,'' he said. ``We need a new balance that conserves our natural resources but not at the enormous costs of massive job loss, the erosion of our civil and constitutional rights and the loss of human dignity.''
But a North Carolina State University scientist said before the hearing that existing environmental laws and government policies and spending are already weighted against environmental protection.
``We are not doing anything close to a good job of protecting clean water in this country and these wetlands are absolutely essential to that protection,'' said JoAnn Burkholder, an assistant professor at NCSU and a member of the state Marine Fisheries Commission. ``We have next to nothing in environmental spending in this state.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., R-N.C., angrily denied charges that
the committee was biased. ``That's the extremists talking again,''
he said in an interview before the hearing.
by CNB