Smelly And Naked Is No Way To Get Things Done

(Fred Weinberg/The Penny Press) – At the time a smelly, unkempt mob (no, not Harry Reid’s Washington “tourists”) descended on New York, presumably to change the way Wall Street does business, the Shovel Brigade 2 is starting to take shape in Elko, Nevada.

The Shovel Brigade isn’t a sexy movement like reforming Wall Street for the benefit of “the people.”

Its advocates don’t show up naked and sleep among feces and urine in a private park in New York City. And they don’t call the police “pigs.”

The mainstream media, with very few exceptions, give them very little coverage.

But if you live in Nevada, you should be aware that much of your life is controlled by two relatively obscure Federal agencies, the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.

What’s happening in Elko is very important to Nevada. The fact that the Federal Government controls more than 90 per cent of the state’s landmass means that it also can stop economic development dead in its tracks.

And, more often than not, it does.

Even when there is economic development, the Federal hegemony of the state distorts business patterns and the ability of businesses to take advantage of the state’s abundant natural resources.

Gold skyrockets in value? Great. That should allow companies like Newmont, Barrack and lots of smaller guys to get mines in production.

Not so fast. Federal rules make it almost impossible to get a mine permitted and up and running in less than five years. In fact, it is easier to open a brothel in Nevada than a mine. No Federal permitting of brothels is required.

Influx of people? Need some subdivisions built?

You need to find the land somewhere, and the Federal Government’s thumb on the scale totally distorts the actual, functional value of a home in Nevada, leading to overpriced houses and an eventual bust.

Beef and wool prices high? Increase the size of the herds.

Not so fast. For some inexplicable reason, the Federal Government doesn’t like cows and sheep grazing on “its” land. That has two effects. First, fewer cows and sheep, less beef and wool, higher prices for both. Second, no grazing means more fuel for fires and we have gone from less than 25,000 acres a year of wildfires to 600,000 acres. The additional toll in pollution and animals killed is phenomenal.

Enter the shovel brigade.

Years ago, the Forest Service started closing roads on “its” land to motorized travel.

The Original Shovel Brigade was formed 11 years ago by local citizens who used shovels (and the occasional Nye County owned Cat D-8) to re-open those roads.

The battle against the Forest Service and the BLM had been joined.

Unlike the clowns in New York, these folks are ranchers, lawyers, businesspeople, housewives, outdoorsmen, hunters, your neighbors.

Under the Obama administration, the black hand of the Forest Service and the BLM has become particularly arbitrary and capricious, although even Republican Presidents have not acted to curb these agencies.

In Elko County, the local Forest Ranger arrogantly told the County Commission that he was going to close hundreds of miles of roads and it was his sole decision.

His boss “temporarily” reassigned him to Clark County and has promised a meeting with the County Commission. Seeing that, similarly upset rural county commissions from Eureka, Lander and Nye counties now want to be at that meeting as well.

With a Presidential election campaign in full swing right here in Nevada, it is only a matter of time before Nevadans make this a national issue.

If we nominate you and you get elected, who are you going to appoint Secretary of Agriculture (Forest Service) and Interior (BLM)? Are you going to get them off Nevada’s back? How about letting the counties do the permitting?

Memo to the clowns in New York:

You want to change Wall Street? Smelly and naked is no way to get things done. Elect people to office who will get things done. Start with your County Commission.

They did that in rural Nevada and you’re about to see how it works.