Is Harry Reid behind range war with Nevada rancher?

While the country is focused on the standoff between a Nevada rancher whose family has been grazing cattle on state land since the 1880s and the federal government who said it needs to protect the desert tortoise, a new revelation suggests that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D- Nev.) wants the land to install solar power stations.

Cliven Bundy’s family has been grazing cattle in Nevada since the 1880s. However, in recent years the federal government, which owns 86 percent of the land in Nevada, has fought Bundy over use of the land. In 1993, the federal government declared a large portion of the Gold Butte area, near the Utah border, off limits because of the protected desert tortoise.

In the years following the designation the government has now taken to euthanizing some of the turtles because they are now so prevalent.

Last weekend the Bureau of Land Management obtained a court order to begin rounding up Bundy’s cattle. The BLM says that Bundy has not paid his grazing fees to them and owes the BLM over $1 million. Bundy has claimed that he has paid his grazing fees to the county and the state, which own the land.

The situation is rapidly spiraling out of control with reports of snipers setting up near the Bundy ranch as well as multiple armed BLM agents being present on site.

The BLM and park rangers have also engaged in violent confrontations with family members and protestors. Ammon Bundy said he was tased three different times while a 62 year old woman was tossed to the ground.

With hundreds of armed BLM agents on site, including reports of some from outside the state, some have begun to wonder exactly why the government appears to be engaged in what seems overkill for on man and his cattle.

Infowars.com noted that a now deleted posting from the BLM.gov website may reveal a far different reason for its action against Bundy than what it is currently claiming. The document, which has since been posted on Free Republic, is titled “Cattle Trespass Impacts,” and directly states that Bundy’s cattle “impacts” the development of solar energy on the land. The report specifically referred to the construction of “utility-scale solar generation facilities” on “public lands.”

“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,” the document states.

In a section of another BLM report titled “Bundy’s Trespass Cattle,” it reveals that the land in question where Bundy is grazing is within the “Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone and surrounding area.”

Infowars noted that in 2012, the New American reported that Reid’s son Rory Reid was the chief representative for a Chinese energy firm that had plans to build a $5 billion solar plant on public land in Laughlin, Nevada. Rory’s involvement with the deal was confirmed by Reuters.

The situation has the potential to develop into a deadly confrontation similar to what happened at Waco or Ruby Ridge where an unarmed woman was killed while holding a newborn infant in her arms.

However, since those incidents alternative media outlets have cropped up which has helped shine a spotlight on what is happening making it more difficult for officials wishing to engage in a similar type of attack.

Additionally, there are multiple reports of militia groups heading to the region to help defend the Bundy’s.