More Than 150 Attend NC CSE Property Rights Summit

On March 16, North Carolina Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) held its Private Property Rights Summit to educate citizens on the costly affects of the state’s river buffer regulations on citizens’ property rights. These buffer regulations prohibit owners from developing their land as they see fit, if that land falls within a 50-feet area surrounding any lake, river, stream, or creek. Activists see the buffer regulations as a regulatory land grab by the government without just compensation – a clear violation of the Constitution. NC CSE invited representatives of the state, associations, and elected officials to educate activists on how these rules infringe on property rights and prohibit owners from cultivating land for economic gain. Activists had the opportunity to question and state their concerns to Robin Smith, Assistant Secretary of Environmental Protection of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Attendees – Attendees and guest speaker at the event included Congressmen Cass Ballenger and Charles Taylor; State Representatives Mitch Gillespie, Wilma Sherrill, Mark Crawford, Mark Hilton, and Joe Kiser; and State Senator Ken Moore. Don Yelton of Citizens for Change, Alex Rooker of the North Carolina Realtors Association, Dent Allison representing the NC Home Builders Association, Steve Henson of the Multiple Use Council, and Gary Revis on behalf of the Upper Catawba River Landowners Alliance all spoke on the regulation’s effects.

Grassroots Educational Campaign – NC CSE has initiated a full-fledged educational campaign to repeal the buffer regulations established by the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) under HB 1160, “The Clean Water Act of 1999.” Thousands of citizens have signed our “No Buffer Petition,” and NC CSE activists are out encouraging legislators to sign CSE’s “Private Property” pledge. In June, CSE plans to hold its 3rd annual CSE Day at the Capitol in which hundreds of activists will travel to the capitol to fight for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Activists will also lobby their legislators to repeal the buffer regulations and remind them of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment pertaining to private property.