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Since 1994, Frank Robbins has been a habitual offender of
public-land grazing rules and has actively impeded BLM efforts
to protect the land. From 1996 to 2001, the BLM cited Robbins
for 25 different trespass violations, more than half of which
were classified as "repeated willful" violations.
Darrell Barnes, manager of the Worland BLM office, wrote in
an internal memo to the BLM state director in March 2002 that
"Mr. Robbins has shown a complete disregard for the terms
and conditions of the permits and of the authority of the
BLM to manage public lands." 1 He further
stated, "His conduct was so lacking in reasonableness
or responsibility that it became reckless or negligent and
placed significant undue stress/damage on the public land
resources." 2 A BLM review team recommended
that BLM Law Enforcement should "consider taking criminal
action … based on documented violations." 3
All available evidence points inescapably to one conclusion:
Robbins is an unrepentant repeat violator of environmental
safeguards.
Rather than making an example of Robbins, high level BLM
officials met directly with Robbins in 2002 and William Myers'
Solicitor's Office negotiated a stunningly one-sided settlement
agreement that conditionally forgives 16 grazing violations
dating back to 1994. It also awards Robbins: a new grazing
permit; management control over certain federal lands; expanded
rights-of-way across federal lands; preferential grazing fees;
a special recreation permit to operate a "dude ranch";
and a promise to facilitate a land exchange. Even as the agreement
was being negotiated, BLM field staff continued to document
Robbins' violations of federal law. 4 Field
staff reportedly was directed by higher-ups not to pursue
further violations against Robbins while the agreement was
being worked out. 5 Even more unusual, Robbins
obtained a special status whereby only the Director of BLM
or her designee may cite him for future violations - a move
that would seem to render the local office's enforcement powers
merely advisory. As Matthew Mead, President Bush's U.S. Attorney
for Wyoming, explained in an August 2002 letter, this special
process will complicate enforcement of federal grazing law
in Wyoming. "What justification," Mead asks, "is
there for prosecuting all permittees other than Robbins for
the same conduct?" 6
Many of the provisions of the settlement agreement appear
to violate federal law and regulations. See
also Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Analysis
of the Robbins Settlement (2003). At a minimum, they represent
astonishing deference to a rancher whose record of rangeland
management, according to the BLM's own review, warrants criminal
prosecution - not special benefits. According to published
reports, an internal department memo spends eight pages documenting
the ways the settlement agreement violates the law by altering
or ignoring provisions of the Taylor Grazing Act, the Federal
Land Policy and Management Act, the Federal Advisory Committee
Act, and the federal regulations. 7
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1 Mike Stark, BLM,
Rancher Settle Grazing Dispute, BILLINGS GAZETTE, June
13, 2003.
2 Id.
3 BLM,
Fact Finding Review-Frank Robbins, April 16, 2002.
4 BLM records indicate that Robbins continues
to violate his grazing permits and the settlement agreement
and the BLM director is taking no action to enforce either
federal law or the terms of the settlement against him. Letter
from David L. Wallace, Supervisory Rangeland Specialist to
John L. Kunz, Regional Solicitor's Office, April 14, 2003
(monitoring and allotment analysis showing Robbins's practices
to be "inconsistent with the grazing permits and the
Settlement Agreement"); Letter
from David Wallace, Supervisory Rangeland Specialist, to Alan
Kesterke, Associate State Director, BLM, Aug. 4, 2003
(summarizing monitoring efforts that show Robbins's continued
permit violations); BLM, Analysis
of Billing History (3/24/03) for High Island, HD, and Owl
Creek Ranches (documents on file with CRC). See also Mike
Stark, BLM,
Rancher Settle Grazing Dispute, BILLINGS GAZETTE, June
13, 2003.
5 Mike Stark, BLM,
Rancher Settle Grazing Dispute, BILLINGS GAZETTE, June
13, 2003.
6 Letter
from Matthew H. Mead, US Attorney, District of Wyoming to
John R. Kunz, Assistant Regional Solicitor, Department of
the Interior, August 28, 2002.
7 Mike Stark, BLM,
Rancher Settle Grazing Dispute, BILLINGS GAZETTE, June
13, 2003; see also Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Analysis of the
Robbins Settlement (2003).
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