Jennifer Yachnin
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is vowing to once again "walk towards guns" should the incoming Biden administration attempt to collect on more than two decades of debt from trespass fines and unpaid grazing fees.
Bundy, who came to national attention in 2014 when he rallied armed supporters to his Bunkerville ranch to block the government's attempted roundup of his cattle, made the remarks Saturday in an interview with radio host Pete Santilli.
"The Bundy ranch saga will continue, won't it? Do you believe so? Do you believe that they'll come after you?" asked Santilli, who stuck a plea deal over his own role in the Nevada standoff (Greenwire, Oct. 9, 2017).
"Yes, I do," Bundy replied. "They've been waiting for this ... but it's not only for Bundy ranch; it's for all Americans. We're in trouble if it changes."
He later added: "We're going to have to go forward. If we have to walk forward towards guns, which we did at the Bundy ranch, we have to do that. And we have to have faith."
...Whether the Biden administration, which has named New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland (D) as its nominee to lead the Interior Department, will opt to address the 74-year-old rancher and scofflaw remains an open question.
Some public lands advocates suggested privately to E&E News that the newest White House occupant and his team will have more pressing issues to attend to following next week's inauguration — like rolling back the impacts of President Trump's "energy dominance" agenda and efforts to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act.
But Western Watersheds Project Executive Director Erik Molvar asserted that last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol, which resulted in the deaths of five individuals including a Capitol Police officer, could reinvigorate the government's interest in tamping down on Bundy's continued defiance.
"The lax law enforcement on public lands can be seen as a direct line to the lawlessness we saw in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Recapture Canyon in Utah and now in Washington, D.C.," Molvar said, referring to the 2016 wildlife refuge occupation that involved two of Bundy's sons and to an illegal all-terrain vehicle protest ride in the canyon in 2015.
...Public Lands Council Executive Director Kaitlynn Glover told E&E News that Bundy should not be conflated with the "taxpaying, law-abiding" ranchers her organization represents.
"We do not support unlawful activities or calls for violence," Glover said. "The ranchers we represent who graze livestock on public lands pay their grazing fees, follow the rules, and cherish the responsibilities of stewarding America's public lands. They expect other ranchers to do the same."
She added: "Do not mistake those who have anti-American sentiments as representatives of our community just because they wear a cowboy hat "
Note: article is from Jan., but I just came across it and thought it worthy of posting. You should read all of it.
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