1-9 FB Forced Sale

 The Rural Economic Vitalization Act” (REVA) bill claims it will “help” struggling federal lands ranchers by allowing third parties to buy out ranchers’ permits and permanently retire those lands from grazing. I asked Dustin Van Liew, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) director of federal lands if this act along with radical environmental group persecution might have the effect of putting ranchers out of business. “In a sense, yes, because they become under enough financial pressure by having to hire their own lawyers or put into a fund to defend the federal government on these cases in order to, in effect, defend themselves on their federal grazing permits, the costs  become too high and they end up being forced out of business. There has not been reporting on these payments over the last 15 or 16 years and fortunately with the passage of the Omnibus and hopefully when the President signs it, there will be a reporting requirement for the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Forest Service and the BLM.