Peabody coal at Black Mesa (Big Mountain) fuels Reid Gardner Generating Station
In the 1980's there was a manufactured Indian war. Ever hear of Big Mountain? Thousands of traditional and typically subsistence Hopi and Navaho were forcibly relocated for mineral extraction and waste of uranium and coal. Fast forward to the 1990's; Reid Gardner Generating Station once was one of the dirtiest air polluters in the west and the coal comes from Big Mountain. They provide some of the electrical power for Bundy, Las Vegas, and Reno. The toxic coal ash waste is substantial by now and so has been the haze. It has polluted the air for all of Nevada citizens including 40 million visitors to Glen Canyon annually.
What if for years people have recreated in Gold Butte amidst the overgrazing of Bundy. Cattle then transported underweight to feedlots in Las Vegas to be fattened on grains, doped with drugs, later to become a fast food hamburger.
What if for years on the ground citizens and local governments (county and state) worked along with scientists and Federal agencies to list an endangered species - the Mojave Desert Tortoise.
What if Clark County, Nevada developed in their comprehensive land plans to allocate Gold Butte as a mitigation area for the tortoise and allow disbursed recreation.
What if Bundy could have kept the lease and reduced his herd to 150 cows on that public rangeland at any given time - perhaps forever.
By his own foolishness he has locked his cows off of that public land. He could have had a reasonable deal in 1993, yet he rolled the dice to have it all - and lost in 1998.
And what if you support his cowpies?
So the story in a nutshell: Reid Gardner gets decommissioned and that coal plant goes away. The Moapa Indian Reservation economically benefits by a large solar array to offset the decommissioning. Nevada citizens including Bundy use clean electricity. Mojave Tortoise habitat will be destroyed with that array, and that brings us right back to why Clark County, Nevada (and not the BLM that manages that grazing allotment) permanently "retired" the grazing allotment that Bundy trespasses upon since 1998. A conservation group sued the BLM to get off their lard ass and deal with the trespassing Bundy.
Where once Bundy grazed is to become a National Recreation Area and Wilderness in part to give a place for the the tortoise to thrive while Nevada trashes other places like huge open pit gold/cyanide mines. In Nevada, whether County, State or Federal public lands grazing will always be subservient to mining. That is the real story the public land in Gold Butte is being swapped for the solar and mining impacts. Do you want both (solar) electricity and gold? Gold when 85% goes to jewelry and cyanide poisons the water? Something has to give, else-wise the entire state becomes just one huge ecological wasteland.
Bundy has been publicly threatening by violence of a bullet to do as he please and has NOT told you the parts of the story that is not congruent to his manufactured narrative. He has self represented himself in court twice while evoking "God and Country" which is predictable from a Mormon secessionist with ZERO moral or legal claim to that Paiute land. The carpetbagger Mr Bundy parents bought what we now call Bundy Ranch in 1948 and started running cattle in 1954.
Now think about this - how in the world would anyone think it right for someone to buy (in 1948) a homestead of 160 acres and parlay that into 750,160 acres! That is right his 1100 or so branded, unbranded, and feral cows roam 750,000 acres! It is economically and environmentally unsound to ranch in the desert impossible if not for the fact of inexpensive BLM federal leases, when state and private leases are much more expensive. Ask a rancher in states that must rely upon private land - Bundy is out of line and a cheater.
Think about this - the desert Bundy squats is land the Buffalo did not roam. And that is a clue to you about the feasibility of the "rugged and patriotic American rancher" in the desert of America's west. Meanwhile feedlot and slaughter houses are withering because of prolonged drought in the west. Ranchers even without federal influence wisely draw down their "commodity" investments in prolonged droughts.
Bundy had court order with a removal date. Bundy had a history of threats of violence. Bundy is a Mormon secessionist so the Nevada (and Utah) Militia factors in impoundment planning. The BLM along with Sheriffs and contracted local cowboys came in to impound and obviously for the safety of those contracted to enact court order they brought an appropriate response to the threat. 8 cows died (some being feral this being no friendly petting zoo) in attempting to impound the cattle for trespass. The prior lien is irrelevant while the belligerent 20 year trespass leading to impoundment is relevant to the Gold Butte mitigation area. He had ample warning to comply and refused while continuing his threats of violence. It is likely no cows would have died had he complied and removed cows or stayed out of the way. All over youtube and national news are short and incomplete video snippets - they don't show that a Bundy militant rammed BLM vehicle with an ATV that is when you see the videos on the highway. Bundy provoked law enforcement - big mistake, but he had nothing to lose because this was over in 1998 by Clark County, Nevada! When will Mr Bundy divulge that it was Clark County itself and not the BLM that permanently retired that grazing allotment?
Bundy reignites the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1980's, if he wins it will be more "Big Mountains" of mineral extraction and thin cows on overgrazed rangeland. If you want a conspiracy. If you want a fight. If you think crony capitalism is rampantly occurring don't forget to consider Nevada's economic engine of mineral mining.
Do this search please: Sagebrush Rebellion
Do this search please: Bundy + AFP + Koch brothers. (Americans For Prosperity)
And now you might know more of the story then your immediate internet meme frustrations with our government. Our government is a reflection of us as individuals; highly dysfunctional, inept, and with an occasional bit of goodness along with bad. Which sounds exactly like the Occupy Movement and the Tea Party. Both sides painfully aware that corporatism conjoined with political cronyism is choking us while leading us down a path we might not choose. I choose like the Paiute that morally holds Gold Butte as the caretakers of this land to make my choices for the seventh generation. Especially when reduced to the argument SOLAR or COAL.
You may allow the tortoise to go by the wayside while every one of us contributes in devouring this planet. You might say that the desert shrub will grow back but once the gold and minerals deplete there is no more.
If you want Bundy to run roughshod over your romantic myth of the American west then you need to understand the plight of Bundy is overpopulation. When it was less then 30 million in our nation there was plenty of elbow room for Bundy and others to stretch out and degrade this planet and be "free".
And for the Bundy supporters out there not all is lost. Bundy can graze as much cattle as he desires on his 160 acres (homestead) with his water rights on the Virgin River intact. He can water his melons and his cows on private land which is the American way. Bundy can consider diversification with organic melons and free range beef barbecues along with ecotourism in the Gold Butte wild-lands behind his home. Americans are creative and resilient and Bundy can consider joining with Clark County, Nevada in advancing from 1877 (rather 1954) to 2014. After all, most of us law abiding and tax paying Americans only get to call the shots on our very own real property.