BLM sued over settlement with Welfare Rancher

[JoseCuervo]

I have read several articles on this guy, but never posted them. I'll see if I can find more links. But it appears that this Welfare Rancher has an ax to grind with the local BLM office, and then they started keeping an eye on him, and then Finally the Bush administration caved. And now Marvel is getting involved...
BLM sued over settlement with rancher
Associated Press

CASPER – Two conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management over a settlement the agency reached with Thermopolis area rancher Harvey Frank Robbins.


The lawsuit by Western Watersheds Project of Hailey, Idaho, and American Lands Alliance, of Washington, D.C., was filed last week in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.


The suit alleges unlawful actions and failures of action by the top leadership of the BLM granted Robbins “grazing privileges and preferences in violation of the nation’s laws and regulations governing public lands grazing.”


The lawsuit names Kathleen Clarke, director of the BLM, and Francis Cherry, her deputy director. Robbins is not named in the suit.


The settlement, achieved after years of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits between Robbins and the BLM over alleged grazing violations, stayed all regulatory action against Robbins. In exchange, Robbins must cooperate with the BLM.


BLM spokeswoman Celia Boddington said the lawsuit is being reviewed by the agency and the bureau has no comment yet.

 

[JoseCuervo]

More on Robbins....

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Robbins deal under Interior microscope

By BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune staff writer
The Inspector General of the Department of Interior is investigating whether Bureau of Land Management leaders are ignoring ongoing grazing violations of a Thermopolis-area rancher, under cover of a settlement agreement that lacks credible enforcement.

Pam Boteler, director of external affairs for the Inspector General (IG), confirmed an ongoing investigation Thursday, responding to questions posed by a Washington, D.C., watchdog group. The IG's office is responsible for internal audits and investigations.

"We're asking the Inspector General to investigate irregularities in rangeland regulatory enforcement," said Jeff Ruch, director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

"We've had an investigation under way for some time now," said Boteler, "and we will be able to accommodate PEER's requests." Boteler declined to provide more information about the IG's investigation, such as how long it has been running, names of the lead investigators or the thrust of the investigation.

In addition, Interior Assistant Secretary Rebecca Watson has asked her staff to look into the matter, said Interior spokesman John Wright. Watson oversees the Bureau of Land Management, Minerals Management Service, and the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement.

"She's taking this action because she's unclear about the mixed information coming from the public and BLM concerning this agreement," Wright said. "She's asked her staff to look at it and get a clearer picture of what is going on."

The settlement in question grew out of nine years of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits between Harvey Frank Robbins, Jr., and the BLM's Worland Field Office, tying up resources on both sides. Rather than allow the lawsuits to play out, top Interior officials told Worland to back off from enforcement actions while a unique settlement was negotiated last year and signed earlier this year.

The settlement stayed nine years of Robbins' numerous grazing violations, and stayed most lawsuits and counter-lawsuits between Robbins and the BLM. The settlement gave Robbins great flexibility in his dealings with the BLM and forbade the Worland office from further enforcement actions against Robbins.

The entire deal, Ruch said, could be voided at any time within the 24-month agreement, if BLM began enforcement actions against Robbins for new violations. The only BLM officials who can authorize enforcement action against Robbins for new violations, however, are national BLM Director Kathleen Clarke or her designee, Wyoming BLM Director Bob Bennett.

No enforcement actions have been taken in response to alleged post-settlement violations by Robbins, Ruch said.

"Robbins can do whatever he wants," Ruch said.

Ruch's letter to Inspector General Earl Devaney, delivered Thursday, asked Devaney's office to determine why:

-- Clarke or Bennett has refused to pursue or seek enforcement action on a series of new grazing-related violations by Robbins, reported by the Worland Field Office.

-- Clarke's office failed to act on or acknowledge reports from the Worland Field Office, even as it negotiated a settlement conditionally dismissing prior violations contingent on no further violations during a two-year period.

-- Clarke's office and Interior's solicitor general executed a settlement with Robbins, despite warnings from the U.S. attorney's office in Wyoming that such an agreement would compromise the ability of the Department of Justice to represent BLM in the agency's enforcement of grazing regulations.

Recent violations

Worland Field Office reports allege recent grazing violations such as hundreds of excess cattle on grazing allotments and exceeding grazing time limits by days or weeks; incomplete and contradictory reporting by Robbins; lack of an acceptable grazing plan; trespassing on BLM allotments and private property; filling-in four cattle guards on a public access road with dirt and closing the road with gates; and overgrazing estimated at heavy to severe levels.

A BLM billing history analysis for Robbins' three adjoining ranches indicates that no livestock grazing use on his ranches was billed for or paid for during the 2002 grazing fee year, for at least 5,560 animal unit months (mostly unauthorized). An animal unit month is the amount of forage needed to sustain one cow and her calf, or a horse or five sheep for a month.

One Worland memo stated, "Given the aforementioned, documented information, a reasonable person would conclude that the above facts are inconsistent with the grazing permits and the Settlement Agreement."

Ignored concerns

Last August, a worried Thomas Roberts, assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming, wrote to Assistant Regional Solicitor John Kunz in Lakewood, Colo. Roberts posed the following scenario if the settlement with Robbins were approved:

"Another permittee and Robbins are, for example, both in violation of a closure order," Roberts wrote. "BLM-Wyoming can immediately cite the other permittee. I can not however cite Robbins without Director (Bennett) approval. How do we handle the civil or criminal case brought to our office by BLM on the other permittee? What justification is there for prosecuting all permittees other than Robbins for the same conduct?"

Roberts also objected to the settlement's stay of a Robbins lawsuit against Worland BLM staff. "This litigation has continued for almost four years, and to now request the defendants agree to allow the matter to sit for another 30 months without final resolution is ethically unacceptable," Roberts wrote to Kunz.

Reaction

Wyoming Director Bennett's office declined comment since the Robbins settlement has been threatened with a lawsuit by the Western Watersheds Project, which wants the courts to throw out the settlement.

Frank Robbins is out on a week-long cattle drive and cannot be reached, said his attorney Karen Budd-Falen. She expressed astonishment and anger that PEER and the Casper Star-Tribune were able to obtain copies of BLM reports and correspondence, when she has not, even through the Freedom of Information Act.

"I received one of these reports, but it was completely redacted (or blacked out)," Budd-Falen said. Although she has continually asked for copies of Worland reports dealing with Robbins, she said she has not received anything from either the Worland Field Office or the Cheyenne headquarters.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[Ithaca 37]

It sure looks like Marvel's figured out there's something real fishy going on and is doing something about it! Thanks, Jon!

 

[1_pointer]

If one plays a bit of hardball it's not hard to get the BLM to back down. Just ask any county official or sherrif around Escalante, UT. The BLM impounded a bunch of trespass cattle after over a year of violoations. THe sherrif didn't think that was right so he set 'em loose and the BLM did little. One good thing, is that there is change on the wind.... I think I need a shower!!