LMD May 2020

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Riding Herd “The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.” – JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

May 15, 2020 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 62 • No. 5

The Proof Is In The Past BY LEE PITTS

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here have been three ways in which public lands ranchers have tried to fend off the federal government from putting them out of business. Many have tried to fight them in the courts, the best example being the very courageous and sad story of the Hage family. After years and years of legal wrangling they finally won the battle... but lost the war. The second way to try to remain in business as a public lands rancher is the way of the radicals and revolutionaries like the Bundy’s. Down through history this has proven to be a long, difficult and dangerous way to bring about change. Just ask LaVoy Finicum’s family after he was was killed by federal agents.

The Third Way Then there is a little used third way, to try and maintain a viable public lands ranching industry: by using the truth in the court of public opinion. It’s cheaper than courts with judges and involves far fewer lawyers, but it requires years and years of hard work. One person who has followed this third way is the best truth teller I know and yet, he’s probably someone you’ve never heard of. That’s because Cliff Gardner has had his head hidden in books both in law libraries and community libraries to get at the truth and to win the public lands battle with facts. The jury is still out if this third way will work any better than the other two simply because environmental groups aren’t interested in the truth.

It’s Those Darn Models Again

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

One of the arguments put forth by those who would kick

Don’t squat with your spurs on. cows off federal ranges is that cattle destroy “biodiversity”. The greens contend that when the white man came west they found land that was ideally suited for all sorts of wildlife. They invent wild claims and sponsor professors to say things like, “Humanity has wiped out 60% of animal populations.” Or, “Biodiversity, and natural resources caused directly or indirectly by humans has caused global warming, biodiversity loss, ecological crisis, and eventual ecological collapse.” Or, “The current rate of global diversity loss is estimated to be 100 to 1000 times higher than the (naturally occurring) background extinction rate.” And, “Models indicate that about half of the biosphere has seen a “substantial net anthropogenic change” in species richness.” That’s a highfalutin way to say there were lots more animals and birds of all species before

man let loose his thundering herds of cattle. (As opposed to thundering herds of bison?) What is the green solution to all these “models” that predict the end of the world? Get rid of cattle and cattlemen, of course.

What Was The West Like? To debunk such ridiculous claims one has to answer the question... “What was the west really like when white man first came West?” Cliff Gardner has researched that question more in depth than any person I know. Says Gardner, “From the time of my first getting involved in seeking solutions to public lands conflicts, my greatest frustration has been the refusal of those in government to acknowledge that the great abundance of wildlife that so many of us experienced during the early to mid 1900’s was the product of the range livestock industry, west-

ern settlement, and predator control.” Personally, one of my greatest heroes in the history books is a man named Jedidiah Smith. He was the first white man to cross the Sierras, the first to explore the Great Basin and the first American to cross into California. His discoveries included the historic South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, a large part of the valley of the Great Salt Lake, and he was the first explorer to travel the full length of the San Jouquin valley. He explored the Klamath River and the coast to Central Oregon and led an extraordinary journey from the lower reaches of the Columbia to the western border of Wyoming. It was Jedidiah Smith who prepared the way for the emigrant trails to follow. This unassuming, nearly forgotten man died at 32 years of age when he was surprised at a waterhole in New Mexico by a band of Comanches. Of the 32 men who had shared his adventures, 25 died at the hands of the Indians. Cliff Gardner has delved into the travels of Jedidiah Smith to see if he could discern the state of wildlife in the West in the 1800’s. According to Gardner, “In a letter to Captain William continued on page two

US Supreme Court Decides Maui County Clean Water Act Case BY TIFFANY DOWELL LASHMET / ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR& EXTENSION SPECIALIST IN AGRICULTURAL LAW, TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE EXTENSION

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he much-anticipated United States Supreme Court decision in County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund was released last week. It is a fascinating decision that results in the Court adopting a “functional equivalent” test

Background Under the federal Clean Water Act, it is unlawful to discharge a pollutant from a point source into a Water of the United States without obtaining a federal permit. The question before the US Supreme Court is whether a permit is required when pollutants originate from a point source, but travel through a non-point source (groundwater) to reach the Water of the United States. Put another way, the Court must decide whether an “indirect discharge” is within the scope of the Clean Water Act.

The Act defines the following terms: • “Pollutant” is broadly defined as: “dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment,

rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.” • “Point source” is defined as “any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include agricultural stormwater discharges and return flows from irrigated agriculture.” • “Discharge of a pollutant” means “(A) any addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any point source, (B) any addition of any pollutant to the waters of the contiguous zone or the ocean from any point source other than a vessel or other floating craft.” This case arose in Hawaii, where the County of Maui operates a wastewater reclamation facility on the island. The facility collects sewage from surrounding areas, partially treats it, and then pumps the treated water (approximately 4 million gallons per day) through four disposal wells into the groundwater. The wastewater travels through the groundwater approximately 1/2 mile to the Pacific Ocean. In 2012, several environmental groups filed suit against the continued on page four

by LEE PITTS

THEIRS WARNING: People with high blood pressure or ulcers should not read this column.

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et’s talk taxes, shall we? I am qualified to discuss this subject because in addition to all my other talents, like being able to juggle and do quadratic equations, I am also a CPA. That’s right, I’m a member of the Cow Punchers Association (CPA) who get together on a semi-regular basis to eat a tax deductible lunch and cuss the IRS. I’m qualified to discuss and cuss taxes because in 45 years of paying them I’ve only been audited once by the IRS. And after that audit the IRS actually sent me a check for $500 that I overpaid. I became immediately intaxicated; that’s the euphoric feeling one gets when he or she gets money back from the IRS. I’m really glad that National Emancipation Day has come and gone. That’s the day every year when you quit working for the government. It’s calculated by the Tax Foundation and in 2019 it was April 16. According to the Tax Foundation the average American will spend 42 days just to pay state and federal taxes, 29 days to pay Social Security and Medicare, 11 days paying property taxes, 13 days to pay the interest on the national debt and 14 days for national defense. That’s the equivalent of 109 days per year to pay all your taxes! Another way of looking at it is you’re working every Monday just to pay state and federal income tax. In a normal eight hour day nearly three of the hours are spent working for the government. When you add in sales taxes and other assorted fees and licenses you spend more on taxes than you do for food, clothing and shelter combined. For a nation that was established to avoid taxes we sure do pay a lot of them. After I overpaid the one year I did our taxes my wife never trusted me again and so we send them off to a real CPA who “prepares them”. Albert Einstein, universally considered the smartest person of his generation, said the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax

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