Heller says Bundy should pay BLM grazing fees
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Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada says Cliven Bundy should pay the Bureau of Land management more than $1 million in grazing fees the agency says he owes.
Heller made no additional comment on the subject at a news conference in Washington.
A Nevada rancher, Bundy says he doesn't recognize federal authority over lands around his property where his cattle have long grazed.
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The BLM claims the cattle are trespassing on fragile Gold Butte habitat set aside for the endangered desert tortoise, and that Bundy owes $1.1 million in fees and penalties since 1993.
A recent armed standoff during a BLM roundup of the family's cattle earlier this month became so tense that the agency stopped its efforts, released about 350 animals back to Bundy and left the area.