Peyton Knight Property Quotations

If the government takes a person's land to build a highway, the property owner is compensated. If the government takes the use of a person's land to protect a rare species, however, the property owner is not compensated. This inequity must be addressed.

Typically, 'good-faith negotiations' do not portray the buyer holding a gun to the seller's head. These negotiations have been tinged with bad-faith since April, when the City told property owners they had to be out of their homes by New Year's Eve. Mr. Green can pretend he's dealing in good faith, but he's really playing with a corked bat.

Property owners should not be punished for being good environmental stewards, yet that is exactly what the ESA does.

Draconian regulations on property owners don't attract business. Businesses want the right to do what they want with their properties.

ESA-related costs are paid in an inequitable way. Although Congress determined in 1973 that the preservation of endangered species was in the interest of the U.S. as a whole, Congress did not arrange for the nation as a whole to bear the costs of recovery. Instead, these costs are largely borne by the private landowners on whose property rare species are found, regardless of the ability of any particular landowner to bear these costs.

The House of Representatives recently passed an ESA reform bill that promises to give property owners 100 percent direct compensation for their lost rights. Incredibly, Senator Crapo's bill seeks to undo this. For property rights advocates, CRESA snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

They're generally a bad thing, if you're a property owner. You're basically a tenant on your own property.