BLM Standoff Brewing In Texas, Governor Rick Perry Weighs In

A BLM standoff in Texas could be the next battle for both property rights and states’ rights. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Teddy Henderson is just one of the ranchers along the Texas and Oklahoma border who may lose land they hold a deed on, to the federal government. The Bureau of Land Management is attempting to seize approximately 90,000 acres along the Red River, claiming the directional changes of the waterway have moved the state border.

Texas Governor Rick Perry weighed in on the BLM land grab debate yesterday during an interview with Stuart Barney on Fox News. Governor Perry warned the federal agency tasked with overseeing public lands owned by the government, to stay away from the Lone Star State. The lawmaker told Barney that the federal government already owns “too much land.”

In 1986 a federal court ruling in the Teddy Henderson and BLM case resulted in the Texas rancher losing 140 acres to the government. Henderson and other ranchers along the Red River border now firmly believe the agency is back to seize more private property. “It’s not a dare, it’s a promise that we’re going to stand up for private property rights in the state of Texas,” Rick Perry said during the interview.

As noted in a report compiled by The Inquisitr regarding both private and public federal government land ownership, the BLM wields power over about 460 million acres of the 2.27 billion acres of land in the United States of America. The federal agency which residents in western states deal with on a routine basis was largely unfamiliar to residents in other parts of the nation until the Cliven Bundy standoff at Bundy ranch in Nevada. The report also stated that the federal government owns 43,646,357 acres of land in America. The statistics garnered from multiple government reports included real property data from 36 federal agencies also revealed that 361,318 federal buildings and 485,866 federal structures also exist in the country.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is hoping to fill Rick Perry’s seat in the Governor’s office when the Republican reaches the end of his final term. Earlier this week Abbott penned at letter to the Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze on the matter. Abbott appears to have the same mindset about the possible private property seizures at Perry. The Texas Attorney General told Kornze that he has “deep concerns” about the federal government’s interest in the 116-mile stretch along the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma. Like Governor Perry, the AG reminded the BLM that the acreage has been legally owned in private hands for generations and deeds to the parcels have been surveyed and filed.

Neil Kornze is a former aide to Nevada Senator Harry Reid, a fact which added to the tensions during the Bundy ranch standoff. After the BLM stood down, Reid referred to Cliven Bundy supporters as terrorists, comments which created massive backlash for the Democrat. As already reported by The Inquisitr, mass cattle graves were found on the Gold Butte public lands after the Bureau of Land Management agents and hired cowboys retreated.

Excerpt from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s letter to Neil Kornze:

“I am deeply concerned about reports that the Bureau of Land Management is considering taking property in the state of Texas and that it now claims belongs to the federal government. As attorney general of Texas, I am deeply troubled by reports from BLM field hearings that the federal government may claim — for the first time — that 90,000 acres of territory along the Red River now belong to the federal government.”

Abbott went on to state that the BLM has not disclosed its “full intentions” for the land or the legal justification behind the possible land seizure by the federal government. The BLM told Fox News that the agency is “categorically not expanding federal holdings along the Red River.” Both individuals and groups have vowed to stand in support of the Texas, just like they did for Cliven Bundy during the Bundy ranch standoff, if armed BLM agents attempt to seize private property along the Oklahoma state border.

http://youtu.be/gtFd-Y3cIa8

What do you think about the BLM dispute brewing in Texas along the Red River border with Oklahoma? Should Americans be concerned about infringement upon states’ rights and property rights?

[Image Via: Bundy Ranch Facebook Page]