** Trump nominates anti-public lands extremist for BLM Director
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Monday, June 29, 2020
William Perry Pendley, Bureau of Land Management ([link removed])
On Friday, President Trump announced ([link removed]) that he will formally nominate William Perry Pendley for the position of Bureau of Land Management director. Pendley, who currently heads the department in an acting capacity, is a longtime opponent of public lands. He was the president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation which pushed the government to sell off land, and he wrote ([link removed]) an op-ed in 2016 that asserted the "Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold.” His recusal list of private companies is 17 pages long and includes oil, gas, and mining companies, severely limiting his capacity to execute the duties of the position without encountering conflicts of interest. “Over the
course of his career, he’s argued for eliminating the Endangered Species Act, abolishing the Antiquities Act, and repealing laws that safeguard sportsmen’s access,” stated ([link removed]) a letter from 12 senators opposing his appointment to acting BLM director last September. “Keeping Mr. Pendley atop the BLM is an affront to all Americans who believe in the balanced, multiple-use and sustained yield mission of the agency.”
The Bureau of Land Management has not had a Senate-confirmed director for the entirety of the Trump administration. The agency, which oversees 245 million acres of public land and 700 million acres of mineral resources, relocated the headquarters from Washington D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado during this time—a move ([link removed]) that drained the agency of expertise and moved leadership far from where decisions are made.
“If there’s one upside to the year-long delay in nominating Pendley, it’s that the Senate and the country can now see Pendley is not only unfit to run the Bureau of Land Management, he is uniquely incompetent as well, having overseen a disastrous ‘relocation’ of BLM headquarters that led to the evisceration of agency leadership and expertise," stated ([link removed]) Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities.
Quick hits
** Watchdogs question if firm was rewarded for supporting Trump's wall
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Salon ([link removed])
** Trump to formally nominate William Perry Pendley for BLM director
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HuffPost ([link removed]) | Bloomberg ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed]) | Colorado Public Radio ([link removed]) | E&E News ([link removed])
** Chesapeake Energy, fracking pioneer, files for bankruptcy
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New York Times ([link removed]) | The Guardian ([link removed])
** Passage of public land bill shows importance to Western voters
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Arizona Mirror ([link removed])
** NPS cut “health and human safety” section from analysis for Trump's Mount Rushmore event on July 4th
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Sierra Magazine ([link removed])
** Interior Secretary threatens to withhold funds from state and local governments unless they protect statues
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CNN ([link removed])
** Oil groups boosted, states shortchanged by cuts to US royalty rates during pandemic as agency refuses to provide data
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Financial Times ([link removed]) | Reuters ([link removed])
** Opinion: Funding for parks is a critical part of COVID relief effort
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Las Vegas Sun ([link removed])
Quote of the day
Even by the Trump administration's standards, trading a coal mine for the border wall is a shocking level of corruption. Our public lands belong to all Americans—not to foreign corporations that pander to the president by pledging allegiance to his divisive and dangerous political agenda.”
—Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US, Salon ([link removed])
Picture this
** @Interior ([link removed])
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Only the wildlife & wind disturb the perfect desert sunset @SaguaroNPS ([link removed]) . Pic by Kim Dessoliers ([link removed] ([link removed]) ) #Arizona ([link removed])
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