A year after the Cliven Bundy ranch showdown, an organization for environmental public servants is leveling charges that the Bureau of Land Management isn’t doing enough to protect its workers.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said Thursday that the Department of the Interior agency has tucked itself into a “fetal position” in response to the growing number of armed militias who question the authority of Washington.
The non-profit watchdog also announced that it is suing BLM for access to information about the incident last April, when Bundy and armed sympathizers forced federal agents to back off plans to round up his cattle that had been illegally grazing on public land.
It has also unsuccessfully sought, through Freedom of Information Act requests, to find out how BLM protects employees and responds to instances of armed resistance.
“It should not take a federal lawsuit and months of foot-dragging to get an explanation for official actions splashed across the evening news,” PEER executive director Jeff Ruch said. He added that his group has not received a single document associated with its requests, and that the lack of response prompted the group to ask a judge to compel the bureau to immediately release relevant records.
“BLM acts as if ignoring the Bundy debacle will make it go away, but it only makes it worse,” Rush said.
BLM is entrusted with stewarding the nation’s hundreds of millions of acres of public land, and regulating its use for activities such as energy development, timber harvesting, and livestock grazing—a job that could lead to violent confrontation with private ranchers more often than currently believed.
According to court documents filed on Thursday, PEER asked BLM for all incidents of threats and violence made against bureau employees in 2013. The group says the information will “offer the public a better understanding of how [BLM] ensures the safety of its employees.”
PEER also sought records specifically about the Bundy ranch incident, including documents related to BLM’s initial decision to round up Bundy’s cattle, and then directives issued later for handling “incidents of armed resistance to lawful orders or other livestock trespass situations.”
BLM agents were dispatched to the Bundy ranch in southeastern Nevada last April to round up cattle that had been illegally grazing on public land for decades. Bundy had refused to pay overdue grazing fees for the herds, and ignored a court order issued the prior year mandating that he remove his trespassing cattle within 45 days.
Conservative media caught wind of what was happening and framed the event as a big government land grab, prompting self-described armed militiamen to descend on the ranch in a move that sparked a showdown with federal agents.
Days later, citing safety concerns and rising tensions, BLM called off the cattle confiscation.
In its court filing, PEER notes that “those lands belong to all Americans and [BLM] is charged with safeguarding those resources from theft or destruction.”
The groups adds in its court filing, “The public…deserves to know whether and how the agency is changing its approach to handling charged situations such as the Bundy incident.”
According to Ruch, BLM’s refusal to turn over the documents to public scrutiny is a “perceived victory” for anti-government enthusiasts willing to take up arms against federal agents. He warned that it is “likely to prompt more violence” in the future.
“As it stands now – a year later – no lessons were learned, no precautions were taken, and BLM remains tucked tightly in a fetal position,” Ruch said.
In July last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that studies domestic extremist groups, issued a report warning that the Bundy ranch “energized volatile extremists who are increasingly targeting law enforcement.”
Mark Potok, a senior fellow at SPLC, said the “incident may have faded from public view, but if our government doesn’t pay attention, we will be caught off guard as much as the Bureau of Land Management was that day.”
In June 2014, Jared and Amanda Miller, members of the Bundy ranch militia, went on a shooting rampage in Las Vegas, Nevada, killing three people before both committing suicide. Two of the victims targeted in the spree were uniformed police officers.
