Phil Taylor, E&E reporter
The FBI's top official in Oregon yesterday had a clear message to
anyone who tries to copy Ammon Bundy's illegal occupation of a national
wildlife refuge: You will be punished.
The Justice Department over the past month has arrested or indicted
more than two dozen people involved in the 40-day occupation of the
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
In the end, DOJ arrested and charged not only the kingpins of the
occupation, but also roughly a dozen smaller players who did not appear
to have any leadership role.
That might have been a strategy to get the underlings to incriminate their bosses in exchange for a plea bargain, experts said.
"It's called turning them," said Jeff Ruch, executive director of
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. "You get the foot
soldier to turn on the lieutenant, the lieutenant to turn on the capo
and the capo to turn on the don."
PEER has criticized DOJ's response to the Bunkerville standoff. And
while Ruch lauded the government's arrest of Cliven Bundy, he noted that
the criminal complaint against him did not target his grazing
violations. It instead cited assault on federal law enforcement
officials, use of weapons and obstruction of justice, among others.
It's unclear whether Bundy's arrest or the crackdown at Malheur will
deter public lands users who oppose federal land management from
flouting natural resources protection laws in protest, he said. At least nine ranchers in Utah and New Mexico in the past month have
vowed to stop paying their grazing fees or to comply with BLM or Forest
Service restrictions.
"They will feel emboldened," Ruch said, "knowing that BLM will feel
reluctant to even impose light regulation for fear of creating
confrontation."
But the FBI's decision to arrest Bundy after he landed in Portland, Ore., when he was sure to be unarmed, was smart, Ruch said.
In the days ahead, as extremists seethe over the death of Finicum
and as some conservative activists lionize the refuge occupants, the
government needs to keep a watchful eye for violent anti-federal
activities, Ruch said.
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