Property rights, partial interests, and the evolving federal role in wetlands conversion and conservation
Excerpt
The property rights debate has combined with budget concerns and reauthorization of the farm bill, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act to focus an unusual degree of public attention on federal wetlands policy. The often contentious nature of the debate on these issues makes understanding of the rights inherent in land ownership both important and timely. This paper examines the nature of land ownership and the evolving federal role in wetlands conversion and conservation, with particular attention to the growing federal reliance on voluntary acquisition and conveyance of partial interests in land.
Wetlands and property rights in the 104th Congress
Property rights have received unprecedented attention in the 104th Congress, and much of that attention has been focused on federal actions to protect wedands. On March 3, the House passed H.R. 925, the Private Property Protection Act of 1995. H.R. 925 would establish a landowner's right to compensation from the federal government whenever die value of a portion of a property is diminished by 20 percent or more as a result of use restrictions imposed under various provisions of federal environmental, agricultural, or water law. Compensation would be determined as the loss in value …
Footnotes
Keith D. Wiebe and Abebayehu Tegene are economists in Economic Research Services'Natural Resources and Environment Division, and Betsy Kuhn is Acting Director of ERS' Food and Consumer Economics Division. This paper draws substantially on a larger study forthcoming from the Economic Research Service (Wiebe, Kuhn, and Tegene). The views expressed here are those of the authors, and not necessarily those of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Copyright 1995 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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