After they publicly gave a number of $1 million?
These guys are incredibly stupid if they try to impose a fine of that magnitude for a minor dispute against a small private rancher who is working hard trying to make a living.
Talk about over reach and stupid politics
The US Constitution stares that fines and judgements cannot be unreasonable or capricious.
Government agencies such as the EPA have been pushing the envelope of abusing its authority to levy fines and over reach like in this case could seriously backfire and result in a well justified legal and public opinion backlash
$200 per head of cattle per day. Do the math. Couple decades, give or take a few months.
They knew that if they gave a public number to be stood by, people would donate enough money to stop it, so they upped the ante by a factor of 500X to make sure that doesn’t happen. This is what Bundy has been dealing with for years and years. Every time it looked like he could meet their demands, they just moved the goalposts out.
All of a sudden it was $200 a day per animal since 1993 or some such nonsense. Where TF do these gubmint bean counters think their prime steaks at Whole Foods come from?