Update, February 23
Now that the standoff is over, more concrete cost estimates are coming in. The Oregonian’s first pass stands at $3.3 million, and that’s before the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has had a chance to assess the damage inside the refuge itself.
Original post
It’s been three weeks since a band of armed militants seized the Malheur National Wildlife refuge from the American people.
Since then, the costs of Ammon Bundy’s actions have risen steadily—an estimated $133,000 every day—and that’s not including damage yet to be calculated from Bundy and his followers driving bulldozers to make new roads, handling Native American artifacts, destroying fences, using government computers, accessing private employee data, removing cameras, and vandalizing refuge vehicles.
Photo: Ammon Bundy and LaVoy Finicum by Caitlin Copple for CWP