Point Reyes Light- September 10, 1998
Congresswoman now has votes for Farmland Act
Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey's office this week reported that more than half the members of the House of Representatives have agreed to co-sponsor the Point Reyes National Seashore Farmland Protection Act.
The House has 435 members, and including Woolsey, the act now has 23l sponsors, assuring it of passage - if the bill is voted on before the House adjourns in three weeks.
Senator Barbara Boxer is sponsoring the bill in the Senate, along with Senator Dianne Feinstein, and a Senate hearing on the bill is scheduled in two weeks.
The Farmland Protection Act would allocate $30 million to buy conservation easements from ranchers who want to sell them. The easements would preclude non-agricultural development of the ranches but would leave them in private ownership.
At this point, the future of the act depends on whether the House leadership, which is Republican, decides to create an omnibus parks bill this session. If it does, the Farmland Protection Act would be part of it.
Omnibus bills typically allocate funds for projects in numerous congressional districts, and if enough Republicans feel a need to cast a strong environmental vote before going into the Nov. 3 election, an omnibus parks bill is likely, the Woolsey camp has predicted.
The opposing camp has begun using Chuck Cushman, chairman of the League of Private Property Voters, as their key lobbyist, and this week he continued to argue the bill is unneeded and would threaten private ownership of family farms along the Tomales Bay and Bodega Bay shores.
"Usually Congress tries to fix problems," Cushman told The Light. This looks like a problem that doesn't need to be fixed. There's no development."
What about Coast Ranch subdivision proposed north of Dillon Beach? Cushman responded there is already plenty of parkland around the country.
A key argument of Cushman (and landowners opposing the legislation) is that the bill is an "expansion" of the National Seashore and will "convert 38,000 acres of productive farmland into government land."
In contrast, when the Marin County Counsel's Office analyzed the bill last year, it concluded: "This office can find no language of the proposed act to support the conclusion that mere inclusion of private property within the Farmland Protection Act would subject that private property to any form of federal regulation or control or make the private property 'parkland.'"
Woolsey has agreed to amend the bill's language during a "markup" conference to make explicit that any easement sales will be voluntary, and Jim Hansen, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Parks, has told her the amendment will pose no problem.
For the moment, however, the more important player in Washington is Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Committee on Resources. Young is a conservative and staunch supporter of property rights.
This week Woolsey's staff urged supporters of her bill to write Congressman Young at the Committee on Resources, Room 1324, LHOB, Washington, DC 20515, requesting that there be an omnibus parks bill that includes the Farmland Protection Act.