And the point that you are missing is that it is the Government’s land. They can do WHATEVER they want with their own property. If they want to build a rock garden, pave it over or build Noah’s arc, it’s the governments land. There is no right of any one person to that land. Congress can enact any legislation to purpose that land how they want. Be it the six legged jack-a-lope or power plant.
Of course it’s the government’s land and they have enacted laws governing the use of the land, the water rights, and the grazing rights. The laws that they enacted were designed to permit open grazing on public land as a compromise for maintaining federal title to the land. Had they not done so, the Congress would have held auctions or lotteries on the land as they did for lands in the Eastern U.S.
Now the federal government has decided that they don’t want any ranching on public lands, but they haven’t changed the laws that give citizens the right to graze on the land. They have enacted other laws regarding the protection of endangered species on both public and private lands. Those laws are frequently in conflict, but more importantly, those laws are often twisted to favor the politically powerful. This is how Harry Reid has amassed both a fortune and an enormous power base.
This is not about land, it’s about political power.