The Environmental Protection Agency is out-of-control. And your property could be next.
Too often, our rights are being violated by abusive and power-hungry EPA bureaucrats, using threats, coercion and force to implement their power grabs.
These regulations have hampered landowners' ability to manage their private property as they please and have impaired job creation. Americans are suffering from the overreach of regulatory agencies such as the EPA.
Our economy, job growth and private property rights are at stake.
Today, I'm asking you to stand with me and start to fight back against an out-of-control federal government.
Please take a minute to sign the "Defense of Property" petition I've had prepared for you, and if possible, lend your support today to our effort to stop the Obama EPA in its tracks.
I'll give you a link in a moment, but I want to tell you why this legislation is so vital.
When power is left in the hands of the executive, it will ALWAYS grow. There is no mechanism to stop it within the executive branch.
Budgets will balloon.
Pages of regulations will proud. And power will cause those in charge to act like masters instead of servants, something that happens all too frequently in our government these days.
** EPA regulations cost more than 5 percent of our annual gross domestic product, the equivalent of the costs of defense and homeland security combined.
** Since EPA regulations have been taking property, jobs and businesses away from citizens, unemployment in America has increased by 33 percent.
** This abuse of power by the implementation of regulations infringes upon our basic rights, and it harms each and every one of us whether or not we are affected directly by one of their rules.
But that's not all.
These are the facts, but there are also the stories, the faces, the suffering.
The omnipresent harassment of the government in the lives of ordinary Americans.
In Pennsylvania, take the story of John Pozsgai, an immigrant from Hungary, who worked as a mechanic and eventually saved enough money to purchase the land bordering his home in Morrisville, Pa.
This land was an old auto junkyard, and Mr. Pozsgai, taking pride in his home, proceeded to clean up this landfill by removing 7,000 old tires and rusted-out automobiles.
However, the EPA did not view this effort as a clean-up but rather a violation of the Clean Water Act.
You see, Mr. Pozsgai's property was a "wetland," ambiguously defined by the EPA as any property that has some sort of connection to a wetland. That connection to a wetland was a small drainage ditch located on the edge of his property.
Mr. Pozsgai did not need a permit to dump topsoil on an isolated wetland.
However, the Army Corps of Engineers insisted he apply for one. Next, the EPA set up surveillance cameras to capture Mr. Pozsgai filling his land with topsoil. EPA agents then arrested him for "discharging pollutants into waters of the United States."
These "pollutants" consisted of earth, topsoil and sand. The EPA openly admits that no hazardous wastes were involved in the case, yet Mr. Pozsgai was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison and fined $202,000. Mr. Pozsgai spent 1 1/2 years in prison, 1 1/2 in a halfway house, and was under supervised probation for five years. His family went bankrupt and was unable to pay its property taxes on the land.
You may have recently heard the case of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Sackett, of Priest Lake, Idaho, who have also fallen victim to the EPA's abusive and overbearing practices.
The Sackett family sought to build a house on their half-acre of land, yet after construction broke ground, the EPA interfered, claiming the family violated the Clean Water Act by placing fill materials into "wetlands."
Their property was designated as a wetland, yet their neighbors have built houses on either side of their lot and their lot already has established sewage lines.
Their lot does not harbor a lake, pond or stream, yet the EPA is requiring them to obtain a building permit that would cost more than the value of their land.
The Sacketts proceeded by filing suit, but the request was dismissed by a federal judge. This past month, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in the Sackett's favor, giving them a partial victory, but leaving the regulations that harassed them in place.
The repeated abuse of power by the EPA has been noted across the country, infringing on the lives of all Americans.
Property rights were once regarded as fundamental to the protection of liberty, and it is time that legislators restore the value of personal property and do something about governmental overreach.
That's why I introduced the Defense of the Environment and Property Act, which would finally define wetlands and navigable waters in the law, and stop the out-of-control EPA and its war on private property.
And that is why it's vital you act today to help pass this crucial bill.
You can start by sending a Petition to your Congressman and Senators.
The bill is gaining steam and supporters every day in Congress, as more and more of these stories are told.
RANDPAC wants to keep telling these stories, keep up the pressure to take on the EPA and restore our liberty.
That's why it's also important you help RANDPAC with a contribution today of $100, $50, $25 - or whatever you can afford.
You can sign the Petition and contribute HERE.
One American can help take a stand and make a difference. But millions of Americans standing together can win the battle. Please consider joining this fight to restore our property rights and rein in out-of-control government.
For Liberty,
Rand Paul
United States Senator
P.S. Our economy, job growth and private property rights are at stake.
Today, I'm asking you to stand with me and start to fight back against an out-of-control federal government.
Please take a minute to fill out the "Defense of Property" petition I've had prepared for you, and if possible, lend your support today to our effort to stop the Obama EPA in its tracks.
After you complete your petition, please make your most generous contribution of $100, $50, $25 - or whatever you can afford - so RANDPAC can turn up the heat on Congress to end the EPA's war on private property.
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