Free Republic

Public Enemy No. 1 for rural Utah sheriffs just happens to be a fellow peace officer: Dan Love, the Bureau of Land Management’s special agent in charge. Elected law enforcement officers from Nephi to Blanding call him an arrogant and dishonest bully who has little regard for local authority and dodges accountability, derailing a collaborative approach to police work on the state’s federal lands. Love reportedly just laughed when Garfield County Sheriff James "Danny" Perkins relayed ranchers’ complaints about federal officers removing plastic feed tubs from the range and threatening the ranchers with litter citations. He drew early controversy during...

Six years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid celebrated what he called a "love fest" of government support for the construction of a proposed 150,000-home community in the Nevada desert and the lobbyist-turned-developer behind it, Harvey Whittemore. Last week, a federal grand jury charged Mr. Whittemore with making illegal political contributions to Mr. Reid, a Democrat. Even before the indictment, Mr. Reid and other politicians had begun to distance themselves from Mr. Whittemore—long one of Nevada's most powerful lobbyists—by pledging to charity money to offset donations they had gotten from him. ~~snip~~ The allegations against Mr. Whittemore stem from a...

Some have speculated that the standoff between federal agents and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is the result of a secretive deal orchestrated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and political allies in the solar industry. But the Bundy standoff is really the culmination of a long battle with environmentalists who want to keep federal lands off limits to economic activity. The primary vehicle used by government officials and environmentalists to advance this goal has been the desert tortoise, which was listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act in 1990. The land Bundy’s family had used for cattle grazing since...

As more solar farms arise in the sunny corners of the U.S., it’s inevitable that solar developers will have to play ball with environmentalists. First Solar and SunPower announced an agreement with the environmental groups to add thousands of acres near their projects for wildlife protection. As more solar farms arise in the sunny corners of the U.S., it’s inevitable that solar developers will have to play ball with environmental groups. First Solar and SunPower announced an agreement on Tuesday with the Sierra Club and others to add thousands of acres near their proposed projects for wildlife protection. The agreement...

Corruption: The standoff in the Nevada desert wasn't about a desert tortoise or a rancher's failure to pay grazing fees. It was about the state's senior senator again enriching himself and his family at public expense. Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant, and the end, at least temporarily, to the Bureau of Land Management's armed standoff with Cliven Bundy may be due in part to the exposure given to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's role in the attempt to confiscate Bundy's cattle and shut down his ranch. "A tortoise isn't the reason why BLM is harassing a 67-year-old...

By now you’re familiar with the standoff between the federal government, i.e. the Bureau of Land Management, and 67 year-old rancher Cliven Bundy. .. The BLM asserts their power through the expressed desire to protect the endangered desert tortoise, a tortoise so “endangered” that their population can no longer be contained by the refuge constructed for them so the government is closing it and euthanizing over a thousand tortoises. The tortoises, the excuse that BLM has given for violating claims to easements and running all but one lone rancher out of southern Nevada, is doing fine. In fact, the tortoise...

It’s been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who have nurtured it as BLM closes Vegas rescue center. LAS VEGAS — For decades, the vulnerable desert tortoise has led a sheltered existence. Developers have taken pains to keep the animal safe. It’s been protected from meddlesome hikers by the threat of prison time. And wildlife officials have set the species up on a sprawling conservation reserve outside Las Vegas. But the pampered desert dweller now faces a threat from the very people who...

When the Democrats adopted the "culture of corruption" meme as their campaign theme earlier this year, we noted that the culture hardly respected party lines. The leader of the Senate Democratic caucus, Harry Reid, took contributions from clients of Jack Abramoff and intervened on their behalf at least four times, and Abramoff hired one of Reid's staffers and started holding fundraisers for the Senate Minority Leader in Abramoff's offices. Now COGirl at Hang Right Politics points us towards a Los Angeles Times report on the "culture of corruption" surrounding Harry Reid and a new real-estate development outside of Las Vegas....

The desert tortoise, a threatened species protected by the federal government, is fighting for its existence against the expanding encroachment of Big Solar into its native habitat of the Mojave Desert in California. The battle between environmental groups and the fledgling green energy industry has prompted a lawsuit against the government to block the multi-billion dollar Calico Solar Power project, which would cover 4,000 acres of the turtle’s vital habitat. The green groups want the company to relocate from its seven-mile campus to a less sensitive desert area. This isn’t the first time the turtles have been threatened by the...

We all love the idea of solar energy and there are plans for 26 solar projects in the deserts of California. One is underway, but there's a big problem -- the desert tortoise is in the way. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that over a thousand tortoises could be harmed by the construction. Advocates say the projects will bring much needed clean energy and jobs to the region and that there's a way to protect the tortoises.

In the current issue of Forbes, I write about how the iconic and imperiled desert tortoise could prove problematic for some of the dozen big solar power plants approved for construction in the Mojave Desert in California and Nevada. In April, federal officials, for instance, ordered BrightSource Energy to halt work on part of its 370-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System after biologists found more desert tortoises at the project than the 32 predicted. Revised projections had estimated there could be as many as 162 adult tortoises and 608 juvenile tortoises on the 5.6-square-mile construction site in the Mojave Desert...

WHISKY BASIN, Calif. -- Howard Blair has outlived two wives, endured years of searing drought and survived sudden freak storms that tossed massive boulders down the Providence Mountains toward his homestead. He lost his favorite horse to a bite from the deadly Mojave green rattlesnake. Now, he must decide whether to sell the ranch that has been in his family for generations or to stay and run the risk of financial ruin. At 76, with white hair and a slight hitch in his gait from a hip replacement, Blair is old enough to recall the last gunfight in the Mojave...