Internal Docs Show BLM Made No Criminal Referrals After Bundy Standoff

"The Bureau of Land Management has not asked the Justice Department to prosecute Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy or anyone else involved in an armed standoff last year with BLM officials who were attempting to round up cattle that were illegally grazing on federal lands, according to documents a government watchdog group sued to obtain.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility today released 44 pages of highly redacted documents that show there were no criminal referrals to DOJ, and apparently no instructions to BLM staff in Nevada on how to proceed with handling the situation with Bundy, whose cattle continue to graze illegally on sensitive federal lands more than a year after the April 2014 armed standoff.

The Washington, D.C.-based group also released a letter to PEER from Theresa Coleman, chief of BLM's Division of Information Resources Management Governance, stating that the agency conducted a thorough review and that the 44 pages of documents are responsive to the group's records request."

Scott Streater reports for Greenwire April 15, 2015.