Cache County could push for $15 million from Ruby Pipeline builders
By Jay Patrick, The Herald Journal, August 3, 2010 [here]
Cache County could press natural gas giant El Paso Corp., builder of the 680-mile Ruby Pipeline, for $15 million to help keep land open for grazing.
The County Council could join with other counties and ask El Paso to set up a fund for buying land-use rights, including grazing, mining and oil and gas development, said Cache County Executive Lynn Lemon.
The move comes in response to El Paso’s recent deal with two environmental groups; the Idaho-based group Western Watersheds Project and the Oregon Natural Desert Foundation recently agreed to not tie up the project in court in return for $20 million from El Paso to help protect habitat.
Western Watersheds Project Executive Director Jon Marvel has said grazing on public lands should end.
“Their reputation is trying to do away with multiple use,” said Lemon. “We want funding to protect multiple use.”
The issue is hot in Box Elder County. Ranchers angry about what some called a “blackmail” payoff and are worried about loss of grazing lands showed up to vent at a meeting last week. A Box Elder county commissioner said the seven counties through which the pipeline passes would work together protecting landowners and ranchers, according to the Standard-Examiner. …
El Paso has the go-ahead from the government, but a lawsuit filed Friday threatens to complicate the project schedule.
The Tucson, Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in federal court in San Francisco. … [more]
Note: It looks like the $20 million in extortion payments to a couple of eco-litigious groups didn’t buy off the rest of them. Surprise, surprise — there is no honor among thieves. The counties are late to the party. Where do they line up for big cash handouts? And how many other entities will demand bribes before El Paso Corp. throws in the towel? See [here] for more background on the Ruby Pipeline Payoff Gravy Train.