7 November 2001 The Honorable James V. Hansen, Chair House Natural Resources Committee 242 House Cannon Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Hansen: As Chair of the Natural Resources Committee for the House of Representatives, I am asking you to actively work to ensure that HR 2974 does not go to the floor with a favorable recommendation. I am including some background information on this issue which I hope will be useful. This bill is in my opinion not only a bad piece of legislation but enforceable only at an unacceptably high cost to taxpayers and at great loss of the resource it purports to preserve and protect. My primary objections to the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act introduced by Prime Sponsor James McGovern of Massachusetts on 2 October 2001 are as follows: It is not possible to write good law when you begin with false premises. This Act states that "all vertebrate fossils, are rare" which is on its face a false statement for those who understand that vertebrate fossils include every shark tooth, every mouse, squirrel, snake, bird or fish bone that has ever been preserved. Paleontologist, Dr. Charles Love, estimated years ago, that in just one-half mile of the Green River Formation alone, there are enough fossil fish specimens to provide two to each man, woman and child who live on this earth. Following from this false premise, this Act states that the collection of any vertebrate fossils on federal lands can be legally carried out only under permit and then states further that all fossils collected under permit remain the property of the United States - the Federal government. Given that all U. S. museums already have more material than they have staff or monies to house, curate or exhibit, where are these fossils going to be housed. This requirement of ownership also leads me to ask: How much money are taxpayers willing to pay to provide for the housing, accession and curation of all the vertebrate fossil material on our more than half a billion acres of Federal Land - let alone to pay for the enforcement of an Act which assumes that every fossil shark tooth and fish bone should be housed in an "approved repository". It seems a very relevant question when the majority of these resources can be collected, preserved and made available for exhibit and research by amateur and private, professional fossil collectors and paleontologists at no cost to the taxpayer and often in ways that generate tax dollars rather than spending them. This Act also states that "nothing in subsection (a) (under prohibited acts) shall apply to any person with respect to any paleontological resource which was in the lawful possession of such person prior to the date of the enactment of this Act." However, unless each person who has any vertebrate or rare invertebrate or plant fossils in their possession prior to the enactment of this Act can provide unassailable proof of where, when and by whom those fossils were collected, this Act's passage would open the door to many false accusations and charges by law enforcement, damaging reputations and even destroying many small businesses. There are literally thousands of small rockshops across this country that would be targets of investigation and against which charges could be brought. The prohibition against selling fossils, even those collected under the provision in this bill for casual collecting by amateur rockhounds with no permit, seems totally incomprehensible. What other collector can legally own items but not be allowed to sell them? Fossils should not be treated any differently than minerals, gold nuggets, coins or semi-precious stones collected from public lands. The amateur fossil collector should be free to dispose of the items in his/her collection in the same way and through the same channels that other collectibles are marketed. This provision seems to open the door for wholesale invasion of the hundreds of rock and mineral shows, small and large, held across this country each year. Such a threat of persecution and prosecution would effectively shut down a hobby which provides thousands of children with their first hands-on experience with science. A large majority of today's professionals in the Earth Sciences will tell you that it is that first experience at an early age that led to an education and eventually a career in the sciences of geology or paleontology or any number of related fields of endeavor. Who will provide that opportunity to today's and tomorrow's children - the 200 or so degreed paleontologists in our universities and museums? The inclusion of the right to seize not only fossils that are deemed to be collected illegally under this Act but also "all vehicles and equipment of any person that were used in connection with the violation" is especially frightening. This provision ensures that enforcement officials have the capability of creating financial ruin for individuals and businesses (even if your business was not actively involved in fossil collection). Unless every fossil in your possession was collected at the same time from the same site, you can be charged under this Act with multiple violations which also vastly escalates the amount of the fines that can levied and the prison time to which you can be sentenced. Another alarming aspect of this bill is the prohibition against "false labeling" in section 9(b) which states that "A person may not make or submit any false record, account, or label for or any false identificaiton of, any paleontological resource excavated or removed from federal lands." Those familiar with fossil collecting know how difficult accurate identification of a specimen can be, even with fairly well-known species, as well as how often even very experienced and well educated paleontologists err in specimen identification. If this bill is enacted, there is a great deal of fossil police work that can be done in every museum across our country prosecuting those curators who have misidentified and mislabeled fossil specimens from public lands but are now in their care and custody. If a curator has three o r more such specimens incorrectly labeled, he or she would be guilty of multiple offenses, and prosecuted for committing a Class D Felony. According to the provisions of HR 2974, these same curators could, of course, also be charged with multiple offenses if they have disseminated information about any of the localities on public lands from which any specimens in their custody were recovered. Please do not support this Bill. I further request that you actively work to ensure that this legislation is not enacted. If you or your staff desire additional information about this issue, I would be more than happy to provide it. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely yours, Marion Zenker, Legislative Liaison American Association of Paleontological Suppliers American Lands Access Association