Noteworthy: 

A D.C.-based federal judge ruled Sunday that President Donald Trump’s appointment of Ken Cuccinelli as acting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a decision that suspends two policies Cuccinelli implemented while leading the agency. (Politico, May 1, 2020)

The legal action noted above began in July of 2019 with a letter demanding explanation of the appointment that they asserted (and later proved) violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. (HERE)

Will we see these types of legal actions against public lands management policy?  It is possible that the the framework of complaints and notices filed in the last few years by many entities, against multiple individuals, will follow the path taken to formally suspend policies of Cuccinelli through the hand of a federal judge.

An article from a year ago by Investigative Reporting Workshop:

Of the 17 leadership positions at Interior that require Senate confirmation, 10 remain filled with personnel serving in an acting capacity. And while the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act limits the length of time an official may remain “acting,” some of those interim appointments have been in place almost since Secretary Ryan Zinke took the helm in March 2017.

At least three officials have stayed past their term limits, according to the rules of the Vacancies Act.

This ongoing gamesmanship has create layers of potentially illegal policy that has already built more layers of invalid policy upon it. The damage being inflicted upon our public resources (wild places) is undeniable, calculated and irrevocable as project after project to benefit private profit lines has been rapidly approved. Recent policy change, and proposed changes on public lands, involve multiple players that all share the same conflicts and agenda acting like runners in a relay race passing the baton. 

Wild horses are a part of public lands management; a public resource under law, not a for profit permitted use. 

Our readers are requesting some relevant reading that points to the unaddressed corruption that is leading policy change for our wild horses. 

For wild horses the dirty agenda is reflected in the pending release of additional funding spurred forward by a corporate alliance that has been labelled “Ten years to AML” and then “Path Forward.” This is a corporate lobby agenda done in backdoor deals. This agenda was rammed through Congress and will bring about exactly what the livestock lobby has been after; the decimation of todays herds. Perpetuation of myth and marketed as “progress” this fast track backwards is corrupt travesty. It reflects the long desired goal of entities like the Stock Growers Association, Cattlemen’s Association and Public Lands Council  that have had their lawyers, stockholders and friends appointed into leadership positions in federal land management under more than questionable circumstance.

We are on the verge of the largest roundups under BLM in US history, sterilization (being called “fertility control”) and the gutting of public input. The system will swell with wild horses removed (15-20K per year) without address one single flaw in the inequity on range and the decades of scapegoating. More wild horses than ever will sit in holding, for no good reason, as we once again discuss simply selling them to slaughter to clear holding facilities. This plan has been packaged in expensive wrapping, yet contains nothing but destruction.

The BLM Report to Congress is over ten months late and the document that we can address as the focal legal fight. Congress has designated an additional $21 million in funding to be released 60 days after the BLM Report is submitted. That funding will be used to begin the fast track backwards.

WHE stand ready to address the long awaited BLM report. Why is BLM delaying? Perhaps because the release of this document will also be a final proposed action that, legally, we can take them to task over? 

you can take action here.

BLM responded to our inquiry made last week:  “There is still no expected release date for the report. It is still being edited.” 

Note: We do recognize many are already talking about the 2021 budget battle. We still have this important fight left before this funding is released in the 2020 budget battle to fuel the big roundups that will begin July 2020.

READING LIBRARY (pages being hit with increased intensity on our site, paraphrased and linked) We hope this library assists those searching for this information on the background of the corruption behind the budget debates for FY2019 and FY2020.

Much of the proposed policy changes have been taken within a framework of questionable appointments of individuals with severe and blatant conflicts of interest. This reading list is a good place to start for those of you interested in these underlying factors. 

In 2016 a formal hearing was held in Congress on wild horses and an informal one on “Extremism.” The hearing on wild horses was filled with fallacy and you can see one example at this link (note: the corporate alliance of millionaire lobbyists now know as “The Path Forward” had already been formed): https://wildhorseeducation.org/2017/05/17/posttruth-a-few-wild-facts-you-should-know-in-these-dangerous-times-part-one/

Former Secretary of Interior Zinke prioritizes National Monuments and Wild Horses for his “buddies,” including a lobbyist of which has a gun company were Zinke hold stock: https://wildhorseeducation.org/2019/03/06/underneath-the-headlines-wild-horses-and-national-monuments-hand-in-hand/

WHE Files Complaint with OIG against Brian Steed. Steed was former Chief of Staff of Chris Stewart (R-UT) and he was directly involved with the crafting of “Path Forward” and has long standing relationship with the corporate lobbyists involved. Stewart has since resigned. https://wildhorseeducation.org/2019/06/14/wild-horse-organization-accuses-blm-deputy-director-of-illegal-action-calls-for-investigation-by-oig/

How the Path Forward Corporate  Document came together with the BLM Report to Congress in the 2019 fiscal debate and what to expect last year in the debate determining spending in 2020. Congress rejected the BLM report for FY2019 and the FY2020 report is over 6 months late. https://wildhorseeducation.org/2019/04/28/blm-report-10-years-to-aml-part-two/

Wild Horse Education Complaint to the OIG referencing William Perry Pendley, acting Chief of BLM, forwarding the agenda of his former law clients against wild horses. https://wildhorseeducation.org/2019/11/04/breaking-complaint-filed-against-pendley/

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Can you help us stay in this fight?