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which tragically and unnecessarily bankrupted many apple growers, the "global wanning 

 scare" which is now being disproved, "the acid rain scare" which is no longer considered a 

 threat, and the "mercury in fish scare" which was finally disproved by testing mercury 

 levels in tissue fi^om fish that lived before &e Industrial Age. 



The environmental industry of today uses these 'scare tactics' to raise funds to increase 

 memberships and to pay the generous (by my standards) salaries of their personnel. Their 

 tactics and their lobbying unfortunately also have the effects of encouraging government to 

 acquire more land, taking it away fi-om individuals and off the local tax rolls, of restricting 

 traditional uses of public lands, and of giving government more control over private land. 

 Restrictions caused by Wetlands regulations, applications of the Endangered Species Act, 

 and lawsuits adjudicated by those with little or no natural-resource knowledge are causing 

 severe economic harm to those whose labor and products have made this country the 

 strong nation that it is today: our loggers, farmers, ranchers, and miners. Unfortunately, in 

 most cases these restrictions are not even helping our environment. 



I ask Congress to remember that the wealth of a nation is based upon its natural resources, 

 and that America has an abundance of those resources. It is imperative that we use them 

 wisely, but use them. Refusing to use them at all will only succeed in lowering the United 

 States to the economic level of those countries that lack abundant natural resources. 



M^^'t 



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