*UPDATE: Those who say Bundy is a “deadbeat” are making inaccurate claims.
Bundy has in fact paid fees to Clark County, Nevada in an arrangement pre-dating the BLM.
The BLM arrived much later, changed the details of the setup without consulting with Bundy — or any other rancher — and then began systematically driving out cattle and ranchers. Bundy refused to pay BLM, especially after they demanded he reduce his heard’s head count down to a level that would not sustain his ranch.
Bundy OWNS the water and forage rights to this land. He paid for these rights. He built fences, established water ways, and constructed roads with his own money, with the approval of Nevada and BLM.
When BLM started using his fees to run him off the land and harassing him, he ceased paying. So should BLM reimburse him for managing the land and for the confiscation of his water and forage rights? Cliven Bundy’s problem isn’t that he didn’t pay — he did — or that his cattle bother tortoises — they don’t — it’s that he’s not a Reid donor. - See more at: http://danaloeschradio.com/the-real-story-of-the-bundy-ranch/#sthash.snaYAg5L.dpuf
Darnit! This is not a surprise to Bundy. Did he just recently attempt to pay fees to the county and get rejected? Or did he attempt to pay fees and get rejected over and over for years? I doubt Levin even has all the facts yet.
The new revelation that Reid and cronies may be involved would be a game changer. But those here that leaped to this conclusion without fact are no better than the global warming proponents leaping to the conclusion that man is the primary contributor to this purported AGW.
“Bundy has in fact paid fees to Clark County, Nevada in an arrangement pre-dating the BLM. “
False. He has applied from grazing from the BLM since the 1950s. It was not something new. He once tried to pay Clark County, and Clark County returned his check with a note explaining they were not the right people.
“Bundy refused to pay BLM, especially after they demanded he reduce his heard’s head count down to a level that would not sustain his ranch.”
Actually:
“The decision from the BLM does not inform [*8] Bundy he can no longer graze livestock due to the protection of the Desert Tortoise, but instead reminds Bundy that his grazing permit would end at the end of the next month, February 1993, and the new permit application was attached to the decision. The decision informed Bundy the BLM would issue him a new ten-year federal grazing permit for the Bunkerville Allotment. Mot. Dism. (#4), Exh. E. The terms and conditions for the new federal grazing permit allowed for livestock grazing with some restrictions to be determined by the BLM.”
“Bundy OWNS the water and forage rights to this land. He paid for these rights. He built fences, established water ways, and constructed roads with his own money, with the approval of Nevada and BLM.”
Again, false. My rancher friend has also bought a grazing permit for $100,000, only to have the BLM reduce it to almost nothing a couple of years later - as the grazing permit allowed them to do. You do not buy an amount of grazing set in stone.
In Bundy’s case, he bought a right to graze with an “ephemeral permit”. “Regions classed as ephemeral do not consistently produce forage, but periodically provide annual vegetation suitable for livestock grazing. 33 FED. REG. 18245. Before grazing on an ephemeral range, a person must submit an application to the BLM. The BLM will determine if adequate forage is available and that the use is consistent with all of the terms and conditions of the permit.”
And yes, ranchers routinely build improvements to the land, but that does not give them ownership. My friend spent $20,000 in one year improving one of his allotments. The BLM wanted him to cut his grazing the following year by 90%. After going out and viewing the land with a BLM supervisor, the allotment was cut 50%, not 90%. That is how you deal with the BLM -you TALK to them and explain.
Sometimes that does no good. There are evil people in the BLM, just as the USFS is now infested with them. Friends who worked in the state wildlife agencies tell me horror stories about what the BLM & USFS have turned in to. Both agencies have been infested with enviro-wackos. There is a reason for my tagline!
However, when a rancher makes improvements to an allotment, he knows in advance that does NOT give him any right to continue grazing there. It is part of the contract he has. If he doesn’t like the contract, he can buy an allotment from a private person or from a government agency in a different location. It is common in the west to transport your animals between allotments hundreds of miles apart. A prudent rancher reviews the transportation costs and pays for an allotment accordingly.
Bundy’s claims are not backed up by the paperwork he filled out. He stopped paying because he decided the US government didn’t own any land and because he is a citizen of Nevada. Try that with the IRS and see how long you stay out of prison...