by Peyton Knight
Aug 28, 2006
Most types of congressional pork merely transfer money from the taxpayers to
some favored constituency. Other types of pork are more nefarious: They also
trample on individuals¹ property rights. Regrettably, Sen. George Allen¹s
(R.-Va.) ³Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act,² which
is co-sponsored in the House by Rep. Frank Wolf (R.-Va.), is an example of
the latter.
The Allen-Wolf initiative seems harmless at first glance, save for the
wasteful spending. It appears to only divert federal dollars to a local
special-interest group for the stated purpose of promoting heritage tourism,
thereby allowing politicians like Allen and Wolf to boast about the project
in their stump speeches.
If only it were that simple.
For those who may be unfamiliar with them, national heritage areas are
federally-designated, heavily-regulated land areas over which special
interest groups and federal employees are given special powers and federal
resources to help them steer land-use decisions. Property rights frequently
are curtailed.
Allen¹s bill, which would create a new national heritage area covering large
parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, would create a ³management
entity² for the region comprised of federal employees and preservationist
interest groups‹many of the latter having a history of anti-property rights
agendas. This new management entity would be required to create an
³inventory² of all property to be ³preserved,² ³managed,² or ³acquired.²
The
new management entity would be granted the authority to disburse federal
funds to encourage restrictions on local land use and the acquisition of
private property.
Citizens of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania might look to property
owners caught within the boundaries of the Yuma Crossing National Heritage
Area in Arizona to catch a glimpse of their possible future. A report about
the Yuma Heritage area from the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Resources states:
³When the Yuma Crossing Heritage Area was authorized in 2000, the public in
Yuma County did not understand the scope of the project and was surprised by
the size of the designation... Concerns were raised by citizens about the
size of the designation and the potential for additional Federal oversight.
The fear of adverse impacts on private property rights were realized when
local government agencies began to use the immense heritage area boundary to
determine zoning restrictions.²
Considering some of the groups that would round out Sen. Allen¹s management
entity, property owners caught within the boundaries of ³Hallowed Ground²
could fare much worse that those in Yuma. One of the groups pushing for the
Allen bill is the National Trust for Historic Preservation, whose senior
vice-president, Peter Brink, currently serves as vice-chairman of the
Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership. The Partnership would join the
federal government in managing the Heritage Area, should Allen¹s bill become
law. The National Trust is an organization with a clear record of hostility
toward property rights. For example, last year a Louisa, Va., man who wanted
to renovate his home ran into opposition from the National Trust for
Historic Preservation. Emily Wadhams, a National Trust vice president,
argued against the rights of the homeowner in a hearing on Capitol Hill,
declaring, ³[P]rivate property rights have never been allowed to take
precedence over our shared national values and the preservation of our
country's heritage.²
It is curious that an organization claiming to be a guardian of history
would so casually revise it.
The National Trust also has worked to defeat state ballot initiatives
designed to restore the private property rights of landowners. Recently in
Oregon, the National Trust and various environmental groups fought passage
of a measure that would fairly compensate property owners when government
takes their property rights and devalues their land. In 1995, the group
helped bankroll the opposition to a similar property rights referendum in
the state of Washington.
Last year¹s unpopular U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Kelo v. New London
sparked a national outcry for stronger protections for property owners‹not
for more legislation that further tramples property rights. The uproar over
the ³bridge to nowhere² shows that many taxpayers are fed up about funding
pork. Unfortunately for property owners within the proposed Hallowed Ground
Heritage Area, some members of Congress still have not gotten the message.
Sen. Allen has always been quick to invoke the names of Thomas Jefferson and
Ronald Reagan when describing his political philosophy. Yet Jeffersonian
principles and Reagan-era conservatism do not allow for federal boondoggles
like his National Heritage Area.
Mr. Knight is director of environmental and regulatory affairs for The
National Center for Public Policy Research.