Post by Steel Pan on Mar 13, 2009 13:34:22 GMT -5
YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Collect a rock, lose your car
Ominous forfeiture provisions in new bill restricting use
of federal land
Posted: February 22, 2009
9:43 pm Eastern
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
WASHINGTON - A land management bill that swept through the
U.S. Senate last month and is headed for a House vote this
week punishes rock collectors and paleontologists with
arrest and expropriation of their cars and other equipment
for even unknowingly disturbing fossils on public land, say
critics.
In the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, a
"forfeiture" provision would let the government confiscate
"all vehicles and equipment of any person" who digs up or
removes a rock or a bone from federal land that meets the
bill's broad definition of "paleontological resource," says
a report by Jon Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise
Institute.
"The seizures could take place even before a person and
even if the person didn't know they were taking or digging
up a 'paleontological resource," writes Berlau. "And the
bill specifically allows the 'transfer of seized resources'
to 'federal or non-federal' institutions, giving the
government and some private actors great incentive to egg
on the takings."
Tracie Bennitt, president of the Association of Applied
Paleontological Sciences, is protesting the bill's vague
language and severe penalties.
"We can visualize now a group of students unknowingly
crossing over an invisible line and ending up handcuffed
and prosecuted," she wrote to members of Congress.
Subtitle D of the bill called the "Paleontological
Resources Preservation Act" would make it illegal to
"excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface or
attempt to excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or
deface any paleontological resources located on Federal
land" without special permission from the government.
"Paleontological resource" is defined in the bill as "any
fossilized remains, traces, or imprints of organisms,
preserved in or on the earth's crust, that are of
paleontological interest and that provide information about
the history of life on earth." Penalties for violations
include up to five years in jail.
Berlau believes picking up rocks could be interpreted as a
violation of the law since most would fit the broad
definition under the law.
The forfeiture provision is effective before a trial and
conviction, making the defendant guilty until proven
innocent, Berlau suggests.
Berlau believes the House will take up a vote on the bill
this week. He is urging Americans to contact
representatives before the bill, known both as S. 22 and
the "Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009" is
approved, as expected, and heads to the White House for
President Obama's signature.
Collect a rock, lose your car
Ominous forfeiture provisions in new bill restricting use
of federal land
Posted: February 22, 2009
9:43 pm Eastern
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
WASHINGTON - A land management bill that swept through the
U.S. Senate last month and is headed for a House vote this
week punishes rock collectors and paleontologists with
arrest and expropriation of their cars and other equipment
for even unknowingly disturbing fossils on public land, say
critics.
In the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, a
"forfeiture" provision would let the government confiscate
"all vehicles and equipment of any person" who digs up or
removes a rock or a bone from federal land that meets the
bill's broad definition of "paleontological resource," says
a report by Jon Berlau of the Competitive Enterprise
Institute.
"The seizures could take place even before a person and
even if the person didn't know they were taking or digging
up a 'paleontological resource," writes Berlau. "And the
bill specifically allows the 'transfer of seized resources'
to 'federal or non-federal' institutions, giving the
government and some private actors great incentive to egg
on the takings."
Tracie Bennitt, president of the Association of Applied
Paleontological Sciences, is protesting the bill's vague
language and severe penalties.
"We can visualize now a group of students unknowingly
crossing over an invisible line and ending up handcuffed
and prosecuted," she wrote to members of Congress.
Subtitle D of the bill called the "Paleontological
Resources Preservation Act" would make it illegal to
"excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface or
attempt to excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or
deface any paleontological resources located on Federal
land" without special permission from the government.
"Paleontological resource" is defined in the bill as "any
fossilized remains, traces, or imprints of organisms,
preserved in or on the earth's crust, that are of
paleontological interest and that provide information about
the history of life on earth." Penalties for violations
include up to five years in jail.
Berlau believes picking up rocks could be interpreted as a
violation of the law since most would fit the broad
definition under the law.
The forfeiture provision is effective before a trial and
conviction, making the defendant guilty until proven
innocent, Berlau suggests.
Berlau believes the House will take up a vote on the bill
this week. He is urging Americans to contact
representatives before the bill, known both as S. 22 and
the "Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009" is
approved, as expected, and heads to the White House for
President Obama's signature.