The element of a government agency, in this case the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and a sub-agency of the Department of the Interior (DOI), and their employees apparently despise taxpayers, remains a hateful situation in need of a fix.  Why the hate and animosity toward taxpayers has been allowed to go on, unchecked by government authority, is unknown.  It remains quite obvious this situation a bit more than just lack of consideration toward taxpayers, as their response toward taxpayers most often is a flippant and filled with animosity of the nature of a “Taxpayers Can Go to Hell” attitude.

History BLM and Litigation

Proof?  History shows BLM as the “Most” legally active and sued government agency in history.  Billions of dollars a year are paid by taxpayers for BLM employees and their attorney’s to file and adjudicate their irresponsible and incompetent behavior.  Most often, that is 98% of the time, BLM files a loss or settles out of court those same cases.

Indeed cases such as this, “A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Las Vegas claims the Bureau of Land Management violated federal environmental and American Indian cultural laws when the agency approved a wind energy project near Great Basin National Park. . .”

This is normal for BLM and within their management decision-making process.  The litigation cost taxpayers in the millions of dollars for this one.  Multiply this by hundreds of other cases (not exaggerating what so ever) over the years and you will simply obtain a small perspective of what these unnecessary lawsuits cost to taxpayers.

Robust legal actions continue as BLM employee behavior being incompetent at best; whereas conclusive, one must consider their qualifications toward managing our Public Lands!  “WWP Files Two New Lawsuits Against The BLM in S.E. Oregon and Central Idaho.”²

“The lawsuit alleges that the BLM failed to consider alternatives to livestock grazing before issuing permits and took action before environmental reviews were completed. The agency also failed to comply with the Challis Resource Management Plan, adopted in 1999, by allowing livestock turnout on Burnt Creek when range improvements were not functional or properly maintained.”²

Again, this type of legal action is not a rare situation, as a matter of fact it is, as already pointed out, a normal circumstance for what one considers “allowable” by BLM employee’s standards (i.e. legally questionable), and certainly with no attention toward common sense or competent land management values or principles.  BLM’s legal knowledge appears to be non-existent, or profoundly incompetent, as history suggests quite adamantly.

Yet, this not only costs taxpayers in the billions of dollars yearly, but remains detrimental to our environment, which is our living biosphere; the taxpayers receive nothing but destruction, public lands are trashed by at best awkward and incompetent decisions, and in some cases have been shown as dangerous to visit.  Special interrests and corporations profit on our loss, constantly.

Wildlife on the Endangered Species List or those close to extinction, have also been eliminated due to bad decision making and bad management decisions based on this same contempt toward taxpayers, and BLM / DOI tendency to favor lobby groups, corporations, or special interests.  This becomes quite costly to both taxpayers, in the billions of dollars yearly, and wildlife, to their death or extinction.

Here is another example, but make no doubt there exist many, many more.  “Today, Judge Winmill ruled, July 12, 2012, in our favor on these two test cases, holding that BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in issuing the RMPs for Craters of Moon and Pinedale. Specifically, BLM violated NEPA in refusing to consider reductions in livestock grazing in the RMP for Craters of the Moon and in failing to consider how energy development will impact sage-grouse in combination with livestock grazing in the Pinedale Field Office. BLM also violated FLPMA by disregarding its own National Sage-Grouse Habitat Conservation Strategy and Sensitive Species Policy in issuing the new RMPs.”³

This legal action, as many others, cost the taxpayers of this nation in the millions for BLM to defend against an ill-advised environmental action.  It is fraught with incompetence, narrow in management scope if existing at all, and developed for specific special interest groups, corporations, at taxpayer expense.  This situation, as the many others, simply should not have happened under sound management based on good and truthful research.

BLM and Their Response Simply Flawed

The BLM’s response is not good enough to pass creditability of any type, especially in regard to expenditure of taxpayer’s money.  Although BLM employees attempted an explanation in “The Law Wranglers: How Litigation Impacts Public Land Management.” The explanation fails in not only proper legal attributes, but awkwardly, and unaware by the BLM author, shows exactly the things mentioned in this article, which are incompetence and those that should be paying attention, simply do not do so!

Awkward also is the fact that “if” they want to pay attention to the legal aspects of land management, then why would they not acknowledge the law to avoid litigation, which the BLM simply ignores the law constantly.  Many of the legal actions taken against BLM is due to BLM not abiding by law, or even more often – not abiding by BLM policy!

So even the article “The Law Wranglers:. . .” becomes rhetoric, and to pointedly make it appear BLM abides by those same laws, the history shows that to be ridiculous and a lie.  Then to attempt to say, historically, the legal process was brought about by antiquated laws and to fulfill land use policy changes is simply a grade-school attempt at a lie.

The history of BLM shows overwhelmingly a Bad Management principle that profoundly exists today.  Decision after decision and lawsuit after lawsuit when researched demonstrates no understanding of land management or terrestrial biology basics what so ever, and ignoring present ethics, laws, and policy of their own making.

Good decisions are not made by adapting to political agendas or manipulated research.  It is that simple, and costs very little or nothing at all to recognize the truth.

Not so surprisingly, these situations involve vented political agendas and special interest lobby group efforts, that when ulitmately implemented within our environment fail constantly.  Often cover ups of not only irresponsibility, but illegal actions by BLM employees, have been recorded previously and remain plentiful today.

BLM and Illegal Activities

Not to be overlooked is the fact that many BLM management people of today were subjects of a vast and expensive undercover operation in the late 1990s’.  These BLM employees are in charge today and oversee the operations of national offices, district offices, and general offices.  “The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the Department of Interior is the agency mandated by law “to protect and manage wild free-roaming horses…as components of the public lands.” Yet, the BLM facilitates the routine and illegal trafficking of wild horses to slaughter.”⁵

The undercover operation had found evidence for the issuing of: in excess of 800-plus felony warrants for arrest, 400-plus misdemeanor warrants for arrest, and all going to be placed before a Federal Grand Jury for distribution and arrest.  Instead, the costly to taxpayer’s undercover investigation and reports and warrants going to the Grand Jury stopped by the Justice Department – politician intervention via special interests, ceased the action the night before filing.  As mentioned, these same employees in the BLM, remain as managers and decision makers to this day, who were indeed subjects and even would have been in prison had the documents been filed with the Federal Grand Jury.

Many Expenditures Exist Indirectly to Court Decisions

Taxpayers today cover the cost of corral facilities and storage of horses, the result of unnecessary roundups that also have been taken to court previously and on several occasions.  These facilities cost taxpayers $65-plus million dollars yearly, plus cost of roundups, which are another few millions of dollars, and by the way it has been shown time and time again unnecessary, also agreed upon by the Federal Courts.

All roundups must be taken to Federal Court on an individual basis — prescribed by BLM attorney’s and Federal Court Judge approval, despite the obvious nature of cost-factors of such a decision.  BLM management still decides to complete roundups, and if the public and taxpayers do not like it, in their opinion, then “. . . go to hell, take us to court!”

Summation

An interesting aspect of the BLM and even the Department of the Interior is the prominent fact they are more than willing to spend taxpayer money in courts, both Federal and State, within the billions of dollars yearly.  And yet, one must answer the question, “Where are these powerful Beacons of the law, there to protect the taxpayers from such robust and irresponsible and illegal behavior?

Where is the court system, within our nation of laws, when our laws are being violated by government agency management, when taxpayers are left with nothing?  Where are these laws when it is perfectly obvious taxpayer money goes to corrupt government agencies, and what one can only attest to tremendous amounts of taxpayer money used, but with no return to the taxpayer?

And why are taxpayers literally paying for special interest groups and their court costs, via BLM or DOI, which are government agencies?  Because of this situation, what law prescribes these agencies being allowed to represent those groups?  The taxpayers, it becomes obvious, is not represented what so ever within our public land management over all scheme of things, and by the BLM or DOI.

Indeed, the decisions are based to benefit special interest group activities?  Ironically, it is then up to taxpayers to pay the court costs as individuals or non-profit groups to fight the very narrow and bad or incompetent decisions, and which many cannot do, and suddenly taxpayer lands and wildlife are destroyed!

Enough is enough – We need those that are hired and paid to protect the public, to do so.  They must defend the taxpayers from these dishonest government agencies, who remain irresponsible, pointedly making decisions favoring special interest groups or one can say – representing special interest groups and the hell with taxpayers, and making decisions that are politically motivated – and it is ruining America!

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You can make a difference by signing and sharing this petition with others, and found at this link: Non-Partisan Federal Investigation into the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of the Interior — http://signon.org/sign/non-partisan-federal?source=c.url&r_by=4161608

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¹ Lawsuit claims BLM approval violated laws, Rogers, Keith, Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com/news/lawsuit-claims-blm-violated-laws-with-wind-energy-project-114614369.html

² WWP Files Two New Lawsuits Against The BLM in S.E. Oregon and Central Idaho, Western Watersheds Project, http://www.westernwatersheds.org/news-media/online-messenger/wwp-files-two-new-lawsuits-against-blm-se-oregon-and-central-idaho

³ Victory in First Round of BLM RMP Litigation, Advocates for the West, Public Interest Environmental Law, http://www.advocateswest.org/bulletin/victory-first-round-blm-rmp-litigation

⁴ The Law Wranglers: How Litigation Impacts Public Land Management, http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/info/history/sidebars/flpma__nepa_and_land/the_law_wranglers.html

⁵ Horses to Slaughter — Anatomy of a Coverup within the BLM (April 1997)
http://www.peer.org/pubs/whitepapers.php