11-9 IAN BLM Name Release

 Strictly an editorial opinion, but I have to respond to a freedom of information act ruling regarding cattlemen, the BLM, grazing permits and environmental groups including Western Watershed. I’m David Sparks. A recent ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Candy Dale said the public interest in monitoring the BLM’s rangeland grazing program outweighed the minimal privacy interests of the grazing permit holders. As a result, the Bureau of Land Management must release the names and addresses of people with grazing permits on the nation’s public land. This was all a result of freedom of information act filings by Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians who contend that the BLM wrongly said the names, addresses and other grazing permit information was protected from release under an exemption that allows agencies to keep from releasing medical records and other information that could constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

 Listen. I think the names and addresses of pedophiles, sexual offenders and drug dealers should be released in an effort to protect children and the public. But why do Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians want that information about a bunch of hard working cowboys who are trying to make an honest living raising beef?