Land Preservation Advocates Attack Regulation And Support Privatization
Elliot Ruga of the NJ Highlands Coalition testified today on Senate bill S699.
The bill seeks to provide compensation (public subsidies) to private landowners who deed restrict forested lands. But despite the public subsidies, the bill *explicitly allows private landowners to prohibit public access to those publicly subsidized forested lands:
(2) A landowner shall not be required to provide public access to woodlands acquired pursuant to this section.
This is total bullshit. I really don’t need to say more.
The Republican sponsored bill itself is bad enough. But Mr. Ruga shocked the Chairman – and anyone listening – by not only supporting the bill, but by parroting the attacks on the Highland Act by former NJ Governor Christie by claiming that the Highlands Act had “failed” and screwed private property owners!
Ruga began his testimony by claiming that the Highlands Act had “failed”, had harmed landowners, and he could not even bring himself to say the word “regulation”: instead he used the term “restraints” (time 34:32).
[Note: those deed restricted forested lands could still be logged under NJ’s private lands forestry program.]
If you think I exaggerate, listen to his testimony here, at time 33:55.
Aside from smearing the Highlands Act and its regulatory protections, parroting Gov. Christie, advocating private property rights, promoting public subsidies to wealthy landowners, and excluding public access, Mr. Ruga of the Highlands Coalition went so far as to threaten that the right wing US Supreme Court might strike down the Highlands Act as a “taking of private property”.
Mr. Ruga knows that the NJ Supreme Court has upheld the Act on those grounds, so his testimony is ill informed and ideological.
This is extreme right wing rhetoric that not even Federalist Society and NJ based right wing property rights groups advocate
NJ conservationists need to start questioning their so called advocates.
Time for Mr. Ruga to retire.
*clarfication