Bundy Redux

From the Washington Post on March 21, 1993: The Post article was written more than 21 years ago, before Cliven Bundy had been assessed even one dime in fees, and validates his claim that his grievance is about the intrusiveness of federal rules aimed at protecting the desert tortoise, and how the government has used the rules as yet another tool to pick economic winners and losers.

Three years ago, with tortoise populations crashing largely because of habitat destruction across its range in Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah, the federal government added the tortoise to its list of threatened species. The designation immediately imperiled tens of millions of dollars worth of construction projects in this development-crazed city.    

But it also triggered a novel experiment in the peaceful resolution of endangered species conflicts that is similar, in many respects, to the process Babbitt would like to try nationwide to defuse explosive development-versus-environment fights.    

Employing a rarely used mechanism approved by Congress a decade ago, environmentalists, developers, government officials, cattlemen, miners and off-road vehicle enthusiasts began negotiating a “habitat conservation plan.” The hope was it would satisfy both the needs of the tortoise and the Las Vegas area’s rapacious appetite for development.    

The result was a plan to protect the tortoise by providing vast tracts of federal land as a refuge while sacrificing other tortoise areas to development....    

By mid-1991, the Fish and Wildlife Service had approved a short-term conservation plan that allows for development of about 22,000 acres of tortoise habitat in and around Las Vegas in exchange for strict conservation measures on 400,000 acres of federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land south of the city. The plan is funded by development fees of between $ 250 and $ 550 an acre paid by builders. Almost $ 10 million has been raised so far.

Among the conservation measures required are the elimination of livestock grazing and strict limits on off-road vehicle use in the protected tortoise habitat. Two weeks ago, the managers of the plan completed the task of purchasing grazing privileges from cattle ranchers who formerly used BLM land....

Open Secrets reports that Harry Reid has raised more than $44 million of campaign donations during his time as Senator.  Many of the donors are attorneys, casino owners, developers, etc.

1989 - 2014 Total Receipts:

$44,499,256

Say what you will about Cliven Bundy being a cantankerous old guy, the facts suggest that he and other ranchers are being screwed out of a living by the federal govenrment, all so other interests can use the land Bundy and other ranchers have been grazing their cattle for more thatn a century.  The land on which he holds grazing rights is being set aside as tortoise habitat so other lands can be deleloped, likely by people who have enriched Harry Reid's campaign chest.

And who, exactly, gave the order to kill Bundy's cattle?  Shouldn't we know that?  Damn right we should.

Read more here.