Property rights activist speaks to loggers

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Landowners should take advantage of local government’s power to stave off federal regulations that deprive them of their liberties, a property rights advocate said.

Cities, counties and local districts can frustrate new wilderness designations and other federal land-use orders by invoking coordination under U.S. and state environmental laws, author Michael Coffman told a logging conference here Feb. 10.

Under coordination, a city council or county commission could appoint a citizens’ advisory committee and enact an ordinance opposing a federal rule and the agency would have to involve the local government in its decision, Coffman said.

The coordination process was used to stop a planned highway through Texas that was part of implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, he said.

“Local coordination … is very, very powerful if it’s done correctly,” said Coffman, whose book, “Rescuing a Broken America,” addresses the environmental movement’s role in the nation’s cultural divide. “It allows your local government to become part of the process.”

For more on his speech, check CapitalPress.com soon.