Free Republic

The federal government’s decision to ban energy development across a wide swath of Colorado and eastern Utah to protect the Gunnison sage grouse habitat has raised concerns the action would inflict economic damage. Although the Obama administration was not expected to make its decision as to whether the bird warrants the endangered listing until November, the Bureau of Land Management’s decision this week effectively puts an oil, gas and coal moratorium on 400,000 acres – roughly 90 acres per bird. The final decision was “pushed back until after the election, because when people understand the impact on jobs, people get...

The Bureau of Land Management wants Congress to allow it to charge new fees for inspections of natural gas and oil wells on public lands. According to BLM Director Neil Kornze,  “We have a system that’s very stretched” and could use the money. But if BLM is “very stretched” why are they adding to their workload by cooking up new regulations on hydraulic fracturing when states already do it?  This is just one more example of BLM and the Obama administration working to increase the red tape and costs of producing energy on federal lands, and another example of their...

Decision would cut off ranchers' lifeline . A Western Slope federal parks official’s decision to limit access to Monument Road has touched off angry reactions from residents who depend on the route for their livelihoods. With little public input from Glade Park ranching community residents and without consulting with the Board of Commissioners in Mesa County, National Park Service (NPS) Director at the Colorado National Monument Lisa Eckert recently announced that vehicles containing “hazardous” cargo would be banned from using the route they have used for decades. Monument Road adjoins to Glade Park just a few miles inside the boundaries...

Federal authorities have issued a moratorium blocking oil, gas and coal leasing on 800,000 acres of public land in southwestern Colorado and eastern Utah that is habitat for the imperiled Gunnison sage grouse. ... restrictive measures that will impact jobs and economic development

A San Diego County Shriner group is seeking $20 million from the federal government, claiming it is responsible for the destructive brush fire that burned their Mount Laguna camp last July. The Al Bahr Shriners filed a complaint against the Bureau of Land Management Friday to recoup losses caused by the Chariot Fire. That blaze scorched 7,055 acres and destroyed or damaged 150 structures at the Al Bahr Shrine Camp, which included an 87-year-old lodge, two dormitories, five rental cabins and a dining hall, the complaint says. Last month, Cal Fire announced investigators had determined the cause of the Chariot...

In yet another spat between the Bureau of Land Management and residents of a western state, Utah is suing the federal agency after it unlawfully foreclosed oil and gas leasing on unprotected lands. Utah’s litigation alleges that the BLM is imposing ‘wilderness criteria’ on lands outside designated wilderness and wilderness study areas. Uintah County and the Utah Association of Counties is joining the suit, claiming that they have been left out of key management decisions.

My trip to the desert southwest two weeks ago helped me understand practically, even more than physically, why most of us in the East don’t really know what it is like to live in the West. Yet we desperately need to learn about the increasing obstacles to the pursuit of happiness in the West if we hold our liberties dear. Fortunately, help is on its way. The urban elites of California, Washington State, and Oregon are hard at work growing government debt and inventing new schemes to shrink our liberty, but urban progressives are similar throughout America. The western lifestyles...

Directive outlines Obama’s policy to use the military against citizens. Well, it seems that my sources who reported at the time that the Bundy standoff was the subject of a meeting of under-secretaries of various cabinet departments (which I did not report, but awaited confirmation) were correct. It also makes more understandable the business of Oath Keepers and the rumor of military intervention, even if they were fed disinformation about a drone strike. A U.S. official said the Obama administration considered but rejected deploying military force under the directive during the recent standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his...

President Barack Obama’s administration has quietly suggested it is willing to create a two-tier race-based legal system in Hawaii, where one set of taxes, spending and law enforcement will govern one race, and the second set of laws will govern every other race. The diversity proposal is portrayed as an effort to create a separate in-state government for people who are “native Hawaiians.” If Obama succeeds, “what’s to prevent creating similar [self-governing racial] groups out of say, Cajuns, or Orthodox Jews or Amish?” said Gail Heriot, a commissioner on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. “If you can do that...

Rancher Cliven Bundy, who you may remember from American politics circa April 2014, has officially left the Republican Party. The news is unlikely to cause too many sleepless nights at Nevada GOP headquarters. Bundy and his wife signed new voter registration forms at an event held by the Independent American Party, to which the Bundys now belong. The event, the AP reports, was "held to honor Bundy for what organizers called 'his courage in standing up for state sovereignty.' " The IAP promoted the Bundys' cause earlier this month, calling on Nevada residents to file "CRIME REPORTS" against the Bureau...

In yet another turn of events indicative of Obama’s tactics, the Commander-in-Chief has stooped to issuing yet another Executive Order in order to bypass Congress. The order, as so many before it, was in no way a change to the executive branch as it ultimately legalized the BLM’s authority to snatch private land. A press release recently disclosed by U.S. Congressman Rob Bishop shows that he was able to find 14 missing pages from an internal Department of Interior (DOI) that had miraculously disappeared. Those pages revealed the slithering snake that Obama truly is and the lows he’s willing to...

May 23, 2014 - 05:54 PM Jeff Berwick Wendy McElroy writes: On May 7, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) posted a notice on the government's Federal Business Opportunities site in order to solicit bids on an undisclosed number of submachine guns. The notice read, in part, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General, located in Washington, DC, pursuant to the authority of FAR Part 13, has a requirement for the commerical [sic] acquisition of submachine guns, .40 Cal. S&W, ambidextrous safety, semi-automatic or 2 shot burts [sic] trigger group, Tritium night sights for front and rear, rails...

Gov’t, locals want to fend off a new Bundy-type clash. New Mexico ranchers are plenty mad over the U.S. Forest Service’s refusal to open a gate blocking their cattle from reaching water ... still standing are the metal fences and locked gates along the banks of the Agua Chiquita, put up by the Forest Service to keep local cattle out. ... Ranchers point out that the fence has been opened for years every spring to allow the cattle access to the creek, which is also used by elk, deer and feral wild hogs.

<p>Land Grab: The Bureau of Land Management plans a Bundy-like seizure of New Mexico land for a national monument that will restrict Border Patrol access and provide an open corridor for drug and human traffickers.</p> <p>In August 2002, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Ranger Kris Eggle was killed in the line of duty. Allegedly the killers were drug smugglers crossing through the Arizona park, which shares a border with Mexico. Since Eggle's death, Organ Pipe has been called the most dangerous park in America.</p>

Obama Administration is set to unilaterally designate a 600,000 acre national monument in New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexican border. The sanctuary, which will be called the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, has drawn sharp criticism from law enforcement who say it will impede border security. "By creating this monument, President Obama is ensuring a pathway to get drugs into the country" Zack Taylor, Chairman of the National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers, told Breitbart Texas. The Obama Administration will ultimately control how much access Border Patrol agents will have to the land, including whether or not they will be...

A pending proposal from President Obama to create a vast new wilderness area on the U.S.-Mexico border is drawing criticism from Republican lawmakers and local law enforcement officials who say it would significantly impede border security. The Obama administration is set to designate a 600,000 acre national monument in south-central New Mexico to be managed and controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency. The designated land will be called the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, and environmentalists have long-sought the designation.

President Obama on Wednesday will declare a national monument in southern New Mexico, delivering a win for environmentalists but angering ranchers and local law enforcement, who say the land restrictions will end up creating a safe haven for drug cartels to operate within the U.S. Mr. Obama will declare about 500,000 acres as the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument. About half of that land is expected to be set aside as wilderness, meaning it will be closed to vehicles and construction.

President Obama on Wednesday will designate nearly half a million acres in New Mexico as a national monument, the latest in a series of executive actions intended to improve environmental protections of federal lands. The president will sign a proclamation establishing the Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument, the largest such designation of his presidency, during a ceremony at the Department of the Interior, the White House said Monday. It will be the 11th time the president has established a national monument during his term, and the largest designation in terms of land mass during his presidency.By contrast, former President...

...About 83 percent of the land identified for the project is privately owned, the companies' proposal said. The federal government owns the mineral rights under about 65 percent of the land, the plan said. The other owners of mineral rights are described only as non-federal entities. The project could hurt the struggling sage grouse population in the area, Erik Molvar, a wildlife biologist with WildEarth Guardians, said in a press release.

I suspect it may come as a surprise to many people that the federal government owns just over a quarter of the nation’s landmass and, other than land set aside for military bases and naval ports that may seem excessive. It is.