December 1, 2014

Commissioner Wichman

was present via telephone.

Mr. Kryder

said the County’s NEPA comments would be brought to the Board on January 5, 2015, for approval. The BLM had either addressed many of the County’s concerns or omitted them entirely based on BLM’s justifications. In general, the BLM’s preferred proposed management approach on public lands was moving away from the FLPMA policy that promoted multiple use to one that promoted preservation, conservation and recreation. BLM’s proposed policies had given priority consideration to BLM concerns over the issues and concerns of its stakeholders, the public, Nye December 1,2014 3. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding the Draft Resource Management PIan!Environmental Impact Statement for the Las Vegas and Pahrump Field Offices.-Cont’d. County and others. Through much of the RMP the proposed BLM mitiga tion measures, land use designations, and proscriptions would likely adversely affect Nye County, its residents, and its interests. Mr. Kryder stated that in some cases those impact s were not considered, not presented, or not accurately portrayed.

Mr. Kryder

reviewed the County’s involvement to date, beginning in Januar y of 2010 with BLM issuing the notice to prepare the EIS and revise the RMP. The County became a cooperating agency in March, 2011. Meetings were held to discus s preliminary alternatives presented by the BLM to all cooperating agencies, and a meeting was held with BLM to walk the ground that was being affected.

Mr. Kryder

provided a summary of the County comments, which included issues regarding BLM management decisions that potentially affect public lands within the County such as the need for renewable energy development, public land disposal, transportation and recognition of related infrastructure and community growth . The concerns also included the level of NEPA analysis to be performed, consid eration of reasonably foreseeable actions, and cumulative impacts of all federal agency actions in southern Nye County.

Mr. Kryder

explained the process going forward and potential remedies beginn ing with the County submitting comments on the draft RMP during the public review period by January 7, 2015. The BLM would address public comments and prepar e a response document to be published with the final RMP/EIS. The BLM District Manag er would review comment resolution and send the final version of the RMP and accom panying EIS to the State Director to publish a Notice of Availability (NOA) in the Federa l Register. After the NOA was published the County had 30 days to file a protest . The Director of the BLM would consider the protest and related information and issue a decision. Appeals of the protest decision were considered final decisio ns of the Department of Interior and were subject to appeals procedures. When timely protests had been resolved the BLM would publish a Record of Decision in the Federa l Register to notify the public of the BLM’s approval of the final RMP and EIS.

Mr. Kryder

advised the general comment categories included special area designations, resource areas, county infrastructure needs, County transportation issues, land disposal, and NEPA. Pam Webster was present Darrell Lacy, Planning Director, explained there were two federal laws driving this process, FLPMA and NEPA. FLPMA talked about multiple use for federal lands. The BLM was supposed to coordinate their activities to the maximum extent practical to local planning activities, but they were totally ignoring the County’s comments and maps. December 1, 2014 3. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding the Draft Resource Management PlanlEnviron mental Impact Statement for the Las Vegas and Pahrump Field Offices.-Cont’d. The EIS process was part of NEPA and any federal agency decision must follow NEPA.

Mr. Lacy

advised the comments needed to be very specific to the page and chapter being commented on and must have scientific back-up to support them. Since January 7, 2015, was the cut-off date for comments and the BLM had not had a public meeting in Pahrump, Commissioner Carbone asked if staff had talked to anyone about a public meeting.

Mr. Kryder

said one of the things they had done each time they had submitted comments to the BLM or had a public comment period open was request in writing an extension of time. BLM had adhered pretty rigorously to their timelines and had not once granted a time extension. Mr. Kryder said they could request one, but he was not optimistic about getting one.

Commissioner Carbone

stated that not having a public meeting in Pahrump would cause problems and offered to start calling the District Manager to try to get the meeting scheduled. He also suggested writing a letter and wondered if the County had any legal standing regarding them not following FLMPA.

Mr. Lacy

felt that not having a meeting in Pahrump would give the County some options.

Commissioner Borasky

said he agreed with staff and that he did not like the process either. He believed the County would wind up in court on this. He understood and shared the public’s concerns.

Commissioner Cox

felt if the BLM would not meet with and cooperate with the County then they should be restrained through the court to not be able to move forward with this until they did cooperate. Mt. Lacy explained the County was the local government and had to follow the federal laws. Over 90% of the lawsuits against the federal government were kicked out over procedural issues so the County had to follow the federal laws and process if it wished to be successful later.

Commissioner Wichman

noted the last Legislature did not hear the report on public lands which was finalized in September, which was a political move. That report would now go before this legislative session and more than one legislator was planning on bringing the task force recommendation to transfer the lands back to the State to the forefront. She felt comments submitted directly to the BLM would have more of an affect than if everything was combined into the County’s comments. Those comments should be submitted to Tim Smith either by telephone (702-5 1 5-5220) or e-mail December 1,2014 3. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding the Draft Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement for the Las Vegas and Pahrump Field Offices.-Cont’d. (tsmith(blm.org). She added that this was her fifth RMP and what Mr. Lacy and Mr. Kryder were directing the County to do and the process they laid out was spot on. Gary Hollis from Hollis Consulting said he was representing the Goedhardt family on this RMP. He stated the Commissioners’ powers rested in Nye County Ordinance 380 and the BLM needed to be held accountable under it. He said a second avenue was a convention of states concerning the Bureau of Land Management. Annette Fuentas said this was a big smoke screen BLM was putting up and she went through this with Fish and Wildlife. They already knew what they were going to do and she guaranteed none of it would be what they were saying right now. Don Cox felt the BLM needed to be run out of Nye County and then out of the State. He thought the court process would be nothing but a joke in the end. Tern Nelson said under this RMP water would come under the State control and be given to Clark County. She did not agree with the environmentalist involvement as it prevented community growth. Robert Adams said none of the alternatives under the RMP fairly represented recreation. He offered assistance to anyone who wanted to comment and said the comment period needed to be extended at least another 90 days to get it in front of the new Congress. He noted BLM had also said several times this was an urban RMP, but thought ideally it should be approached from a regional master plan and the cooperating partners should be elevated to full partners to put something together that really protected the quality of life for southern Nevadans. Mr. Adams encouraged everyone to comment. Jeff Wiest said since no one from the BLM was in attendance then they did not care about what the residents had to say. He thought civil disobedience was the only route. Tina Ttenner felt the BLM was gradually taking everything away from the people and the people needed to stop it. No one had mentioned the constitutionality of the BLM so they were an illegitimate agency as far as she was concerned and should be dealt with as such. Alan Wetter felt it was wrong for the BLM to hold dominion over Pahrump and tell them what it wanted to do. Michael Von Quilich said he was very concerned about this because Pahrump was just now getting on the map as a destination for off-roading. Now the BLM wanted to shut it December 1,2014 3. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding the Draft Resource Management Plan/Environmental Impact Statement for the Las Vegas and Pahrump Field Offices.-Cont’d. down and from an economic standpoint that would be a disaster. He thanked the Commissioners for their diligence in this process. Kenny Bent said he gave the Commissioners an NRS developed in 1979 regarding whether the federal government could own the lands and suggested an amendment to the State Constitution. Ryan Bundy said he was making comments to the County Commission, not the BLM, and that he was only a guest of the County, not a resident. He felt the County should not have signed a memorandum of understanding with the BLM as that gave the BLM authority over the County. The County should also have never agreed to be a cooperating agency as it was cooperating then with a foreign entity. Mr. Bundy though t commenting and phone calls would be a waste of time as FLPMA did not pertain here as it was not federally owned land. He stated the land already belonged to the State of Nevada and the people and was to be controlled by the government closest to the people, which was the County Commission. He urged the Commissioners to stop cooperating. Bill Cams said he feared that the BLM had already decided to go with option 3 which was the most restrictive. He also felt that with the BLM assuming their authority through the Department of Interior and deciding to rewrite their own rules and regulations on how to control themselves without an act of Congress was a violation of the Constitution. Patricia Aiken felt it was time to take a stand against the BLM while there was still something to conserve. She also questioned what had been done to enforce the resolution adopted last year to kick the BLM out of Nye County. Cinthia Nelson said she did not care about the BLM, only the Town of Pahrump. John Ridgeway had an informal petition to turn in to extend the 90-day comment period to the BLM and asked the Commissioners to request that the BLM follow their own guidelines and State laws for the open comment period. Bill Stremmel asked about areas of critical economic concern as he saw a lot of signs of desperation in Nye County. He felt this was Nye County’s opportunity to draw a line in the sand and that it was premature for the BLM to designate any more land for protection before the sage grouse decisions were made. Dwight Lilly saw this as a power grab and felt talking to Tim Smith was a waste of time as was turning in public comments to the BLM. He suggested hiring a public relations firm and getting the media involved. December 1, 2014 3. For Possible Action Discussion and deliberation regarding the Draft Resource Management PlanlEnvironmental Impact Statement for the Las Vegas and Pahrump Field Offices.-Cont’d. Cliven Bundy noted the federal government did not own the land in Nye County. He said he used to be involved in the BLM meetings and when he figured out they were not trying to manage the land for the use of the people, or producing a commodity for the people, he said no. Since the Commissioners represented the people, they only needed to say no too. Herman Lewis said the only time in his lifetime he had ever seen the federal government turn around and back up was at the Bundys, which happened because the people stood up and said no. He asked to have the District Attorney-Elect look into the matter. Victor Fuentas, pastor of Patch of Heaven Camp, described how the BLM diverted a river off of the camp’s property. He said they had been in court over that issue for four years. Booda Cavalier, Cliven Bundy’s personal bodyguard, said the Commissioners had the ability to be the shield to protect the citizens with the help of their constitutionally backed Sheriff. He encouraged them to stand fast, hold their ground, and keep their oath to the Constitution. Angela Bello, District Attorney-Elect, speaking as a resident, said she would not back down from a fight, but the District Attorney’s Office did not have the staff to undertake the kind of legal challenges that were being recommended by the people. She believed the Board needed to consider the financing of outside counsel that she could work with but who could take the load and deal with the constitutional challenges and the appellate process. Lisa Marie Johnson encouraged everyone to call Tim Smith and fill out the comment forms.

Commissioner Carbone

reminded everyone the Commissioners would fight this as well as follow the process.

Commissioner Cox

expressed her frustrations with BLM and encouraged everyone to contact the Department of Interior with their concerns about the BLM. She felt the County needed to develop its own land management agencies with current staff doing the work, not the BLM, and grant funding could be used. She questioned the scientific value in anything in the RMP and encouraged everyone to call Tim Smith with their concerns. Commissioner Cox then directed staff to bring back a bill and a resolution that told the BLM ‘no”, the County has had enough and this would not go any further. December 1,2014

Commissioner Schinhofen

adjourned the meeting. APPROVED this 5 day ATTEST: Of_________________ 2015 c . it Ny Couity Clerk I Deputy