From the grassroots to boardrooms, we take on the key policies of our day, helping communities address the local and national issues impacting our property rights.
Here are a few of the ways we have made an impact:
♦ Initiated the 30 x 30 Land Grab campaign within weeks after the Biden Administration quietly slipped the agenda into the 57 page “Climate Crisis” Executive Order, 14008. Over the course of five short months we educated local, State and Congressional leaders, resulting in nearly 100 local government resolutions passed to oppose the agenda, 15 Governor’s sending an opposition letter to the White House led by Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, and Congressional leaders filing companion bills to nullify the agenda led by Colorado’s Representative Boebert. Learn More
♦ ASL initiated a delisting program to remove species from the federal endangered species list that do not warrant protection. Radical environmentalists who seek to block any development or responsible use of land for their own extreme agenda are exploiting federal loopholes in the Endangered Species Act. We are filing cases to delist species that do not warrant federal protection. Learn More
♦ We stopped the Trans-Texas Corridor that would have taken 500,000 acres from private landowners in Texas alone. This international highway was designed to connect Chinese ports in Mexico to Canada, moving through the center of America. We established the first 391 Planning Commissions in Texas and helped them stop this internationally-funded project. Learn More
♦ We developed the program that teaches local governments how to use the federal requirement to coordinate plans and policies, giving them a vital tool to protect their economies and help advocate for the proper management of America’s resources. Learn More
♦ Led the coordination effort that helped stop the endangered listing of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard and the Lesser prairie chicken. Radical environmentalists targeted these species because restricting their habitat could potentially lock up the Permian Basin oil and gas fields, preventing the use of 20% of our nation’s oil and gas reserves. We’ve helped prevent these listings twice, and stand ready to fight the next round. Learn More
♦ When the Obama Administration proposed new planning rules for the management of the federal lands under the Bureau of Land Management, we organized a Coalition of Governments to formally challenge the proposed rules, which would have elevated the role of radical environmentalists while decreasing the meaningful coordination with local governments in the land use planning process. (Kane County, UT v. DOI).
♦ Led the defeat of the Conservation and Reinvestment Act (CARA) and the National Heritage Rivers Act by educating our members and policymakers as to why the proposals would dramatically erode private property rights in America. We prepared an in-depth white paper on CARA that clearly set forth the problems and was credited with changing the minds of many policymakers leading to the bill’s defeat.
♦ Helped the first Natural Resource Conservation District require coordination with a federal agency. The Winkelman Natural Resource Conservation District in Arizona was the first special district to use coordination; and they did so successfully, preventing the endangered listing of the Sonoran Desert Tortoise. Learn More
♦ Set forth the arguments our members used to convince policymakers to abandon plans that would have given Bureau of Land Management, a huge resource agency, independent law enforcement powers above that of the local sheriffs. By supporting local sheriffs, we helped protect citizens from another layer of bureaucracy that threatened individual liberty in America.
♦ We also helped Mason County, Texas prevent a major CREZ Power Line from coming through their County, requiring the Utilities Commission to coordinate with the Mason County Sub-regional Planning Commission. Learn More
♦ On June 6, 2008, we won the most significant Fifth Amendment victory for property rights on federal lands in recent history in Hage v. United States. Unfortunately, on July 26, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington D.C. overturned the landmark decision, avoiding the more complex property rights issues, and basing its decision on the technical elements of standing and ripeness. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case and in November of 2013, the decision became final. Regardless of the outcome for the Hages, many key precedents were set through the case and a path laid for future actions.
