Well, it would seem that being more than just a bit dingy runs in the Reid family. Or, I suppose we could also say, as it relates to this clan that "The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree." Because apparently, the Nevada rancher who recently forced the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to back down may have been targeted because a Chinese solar company with ties to ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid's son wants the land for an energy plant. Word now comes that Chinese energy giant ENN Energy Group would like very much to use federal land as part of its effort to build a $5 billion solar farm and panel-building plant in the southern Nevada desert.
And in what I’m quite sure is nothing more than purely coincidental, Rory Reid, the son of ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid, just happens to be the guy who’s representing ENN in their bid to locate in Nevada. But wait, the plot seems to thicken because part of that land which ENN wants to use was purchased from Clark County at well below appraised value. And stranger even still is the fact that Rory Reid is the former Clark County Commission chairman and it was he who somehow persuaded the commission to sell 9,000 acres of county land to ENN on the promise it would provide jobs for the area. At least that’s how it was reported by Reuters in 2012.
In addition to the county acreage, the federal Bureau of Land Management, the group that was recently holding a herd of cows hostage because they were supposedly trespassing on some turtle habitat, was also, at one time, looking at the BLM property under dispute with the owner of those very same cattle, rancher Cliven Bundy. And in what is another weird coincidence is the fact that the BLM is currently headed by former ‘Dingy Harry’ policy adviser, Neil Kornz. Now does anyone see what can, I think, be referred to as a common denominator in any of this? I mean I would hate to be seen as some sort of conspiracy nut, but it seems pretty obvious to me.
BLM documents indicate that the federal property for which Bundy claims grazing rights were also under consideration by the solar energy company. But oddly enough, those documents have since been removed from BLM's website. But according to one source, one of those documents is quoted as stating the following: "Non-Governmental Organizations have expressed concern that the regional mitigation strategy for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone utilizes Gold Butte as the location for offsite mitigation for impacts from solar development, and that those restoration activities are not durable with the presence of trespass cattle."
"Trespass cattle" is the nomenclature chosen by the government to refer to Mr. Bundy's herd. Bundy's family has grazed cattle on that land since the 1870s, and Bundy maintains he has grazing rights to the federal land. But he hasn't paid his federal grazing fees in 20 years in a dispute with the BLM. And it was BLM agents who hired contract cowboys earlier this year to seize hundreds of head of cattle and were moving in to seize the rest when militia members from across the country and other supporters showed up last week. It was then that the BLM backed off its efforts, returning Bundy's cattle, but vowing to continue the fight in court.
It has been reported that in its effort to get Bundy off the land, BLM has attempted to force him to reduce his 1,000-head herd to 150. But Bundy says his ranch would not be viable with a herd that small. And in what really demonstrates the complete farce that the government’s position is in this entire matter is the fact that the BLM claims a need to control grazing on the land to protect some endangered desert tortoise. But what has been noted as far back as last August, is the fact that the tortoise population in a nearby conservation center was set to be euthanized because of underfunding. So it kinda makes you wonder what’s really going on here.
But of course the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has repeatedly denied those reports, saying that it’s only the unhealthy tortoises would be euthanized and others would be relocated. But KVVU-TV in Las Vegas reported that the agency didn't say how many of the tortoises in its care were deemed "healthy." But it also been reported that ‘Dingy Harry’ pressured the BLM to change the tortoise's protected zone to accommodate developer Harvey Whittemore who also just happens to be one of the Democrat's top donors. Whittemore was convicted in May 2013 of making illegal campaign contributions to ‘Dingy’.
Look, it should be obvious to even the most casual of observers that this entire episode stinks to high heaven, and it makes you wonder what country we are now living in these days. After all, BLM has proven that they’ve a situational concern, at best, for this desert tortoise as they seemed to have little problem in waiving their rules concerning wind or solar power development. Clearly, these developments have vastly affected a tortoise habitat far more than has a century-old, quasi-homesteading grazing area. If only Clive Bundy were a big ‘Dingy Harry’ donor this entire matter might have been easily avoided. But he’s not, so he must be made to bend to the demands made by the all-powerful government.
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