By: James Simpson
DC Independent Examiner
Note: a slightly altered version of this story appears at WND today as well.
Following a weeklong confrontation between protestors and police from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), events at the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nevada came to an abrupt end on Saturday, April 11, when the BLM suddenly threw in the towel and left. Speaking to a local TV news program Monday, Nevada Senator and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “This isn’t over…” And he is certainly correct. The showdown between BLM and Cliven Bundy – the last rancher in Clark County, Nevada – was but the latest battle in a long-running conflict, and it is sure to continue. Too much is at stake.
Supposedly at issue was the desert tortoise, a reptile on the endangered species list which could not coexist on the land with Bundy’s cattle. But why would the turtle suddenly be threatened by animals it had cohabited with for the 100 plus years the Bundy ranch has been in operation?
A BLM document unearthed last week discusses mitigation strategies for the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone. Dry Lake is just southwest of the Bundy ranch. The “mitigation strategy” proposed to use the grazing lands near the Bundy ranch as a kind of sanctuary for the desert tortoise, because the entire region is slated for a large number of solar, wind and geothermal energy generation facilities. The solar projects especially will obliterate most of the turtle’s natural habitat.
Bloggers quickly made a connection between the effort to remove Bundy’s cattle and a solar energy project located in Southern Nevada and financed by the Communist Chinese energy firm ENN. It was to be the largest solar farm in the U.S. Senator Reid had lobbied heavily for their business, even traveling to China to do so. Reid’s son, formerly a Clark County Commissioner, became a lobbyist for ENN, and Reid placed a former senior advisor, Neil Kornze, to lead the BLM, presumably to assure the enterprise’s success.
Seemed like a slam dunk. But a solar energy complex financed by the Communist Chinese was not at the heart of the Bundy Ranch fiasco after all. That project died last year. However, the BLM’s library of renewable energy projects accessed by the author revealed it was only one of more than 50 solar, wind and geothermal projects planned for Nevada, California, Arizona and other Western states. Reid was actually focused on at least one, and maybe more of these projects, much closer to the Bundy ranch. He was at the work site on March 21, 2014 to help break ground on the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project. A close inspection of this project reveals why there is so much interest in the area and why the BLM, presumably at Reid’s urging through his water boy, Neil Kornze, is so intent on getting Bundy off the land. Reid, for all his rampant corruption (the Nevada mob call him “Cleanface”), looks to be little more than the bagman in this caper. Oh sure, he and his boys will get rich, but not like the others.
The leaseholder for this project is K Road Power, LLC, a New York City-based energy company. An examination of their website finds their business development manager to be none other than Jonathan Magaziner. Magaziner was formerly an associate at the Clinton Climate Initiative of the William J. Clinton Foundation. He is also the son of Ira Magaziner, former senior policy advisor for Bill Clinton, also now conveniently working for the Clinton Foundation on health and environment issues. Just one big, happy, and soon to be even richer, family. There are doubtless more connections to Democratic insiders here.
But that is not all. A company called First Solar is listed on a BLM renewable energy project map of southern Nevada, one of 11 sited in Clark County. Additionally, the map shows six wind projects in Clark County, and also lists the K Road Moapa project under “transmission projects.” In other words, there is a lot going on. How did the media miss all that?
First Solar investors comprise a who’s who of the corrupt, Democratic Left insider crowd, including major Obama campaign bundlers, billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones, Al Gore, Ted Turner and Goldman Sachs. First Solar’s CEO is Michael Ahearn, former fundraiser for both Obama and Senator Harry Reid. First Solar has at least three other solar projects in California. So it becomes very apparent why the BLM, Harry Reid and many other interested parties have such an intense interest in the desert tortoise. They see green, oceans of it. But it is the kind that lines pockets, not the high desert.
This story has been completely missed by all mass media, even Fox News, but it explains both why Cliven Bundy has been facing such intense intimidation and why all the other ranchers have been chased out. Bundy is not merely threatening Harry Reid’s gravy train, but Obama’s, Clinton’s, Gore’s and an A list rogue’s gallery of professional Democrat sponges. It is surprising he is still alive.
This is what has been discovered by examining only a few of the 50-plus projects. Doubtless there is a similar story behind all of them. These entrepreneurial parasites are planning to turn the West into a massive money pit for “green” energy. The projects will eventually go as all others have gone before: falling in flames as the unsustainable costs, maintenance problems and true environmental catastrophes they create become intolerable. The true goal of “green” energy is to make these people wealthier, not to save the environment. As usual with this president, the American taxpayer will be left holding the bag, while he and his cronies will be long gone, laughing all the way to the bank.
This story needs to make national headlines. If there is a shred of integrity left in the mass media, now would be the time to show it. It is not possible that they are unaware of what is happening.
You knew it was about money, If you think its about a frigging turtle you are part of the problem, We need to stop this “illegal land grab” and put this band of criminals out of business