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Both before and after September 11, 2001, the FBI has considered
“eco-terrorism” one of its primary domestic terrorism concerns. The FBI defines “eco-terrorism”
as “the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against
innocent victims or property by an environmentally-oriented, subnational
group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience
beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.”
It comes in
several forms, but one of its primary tactics is “ecotage” or
“monkey-wrenching” where radical environmental groups sabotage the
property of companies whose activities they deem to be bad for the
environment (such as the capital goods used in the logging industry).
But,
some groups have discovered a tactic in which they are able to not only
avoid punishment by federal law enforcement, but also enlist the feds
as willing partners in their effort to destroy private property or
deprive people of it.
One of the groups that has practiced this method to perfection is the Western Watersheds Project (WWP), which has the intention of abolishing all grazing on lands claimed by the federal government. As detailed by William Grigg, the WWP sends people to search for endangered species (including while trespassing on private lands)
in order to sue the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revoke grazing
permits for ranchers using those lands, or to sue the ranchers
themselves. The federal courts have been more than willing to indulge
WWP in their efforts. In one case, the WWP sued an 85-year-old rancher named Verl Jones,
claiming that irrigation of water on his own property harmed the bull
trout. Despite not presenting any evidence to demonstrate this, the
federal court required Jones to stop irrigating and to pay the WWP’s
legal fees. After losing his ranch and being forced to sell off his
assets in order to pay them, Jones soon passed away.
The legal actions of the WWP that have decreased grazing allotments have
not only made life more difficult for ranchers, but have led to lands
growing vegetation that has served as extra fuel for range fires. One
such fire, the Soda Creek Fire, occurred last year and devastated nearly
300,000 acres. Ironically, the WWP, aided by the federal courts and the
BLM, has helped to destroy much of the habitat of Sage Grouse and other
federally protected species, as well as kill wild horses and cattle.
Whereas other radical environmental groups intentionally avoid harming
humans (at least physically) and animals, the joint efforts of the WWP
and the federal government have led to the deaths of both. In this way,
the feds have enabled radical environmentalists to be more dangerous
than they would be on their own.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
1 comment:
Do you agree with this opinion Mr. DuBois? If so, please bolster it with facts and specific examples which are sorely lacking Verl Jones not withstanding.
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