Dear John,
The culture of corruption is continuing to plague the government. For too long, Trump has appointed problematic people to powerful positions. And he’s at it once again. Trump nominated anti-public land zealot William Perry Pendley as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) -- the agency that oversees our public lands.
Pendley’s intent to sell off public land to the fossil fuel industry, while ignoring science and experts, show he will always continue to put fossil fuel CEOs first. He has allowed polluters to exploit the pandemic and the American people -- while putting our public land at risk.
Trump is putting national parks and monuments at risk for Big Oil drilling and mining. The Senate can still stop Pendley’s nomination -- but we need your help to push it to act!
Demand your Senator take action: Reject Pendley as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.
William Perry Pendley wholeheartedly believes in the disposal and sell-off of public lands to corporate polluters. “The Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold,” he wrote in 2016. When the former interior secretary tried to slash the size of national monuments like Bears Ears, Pendley attacked him for not being aggressive enough.
For the last year, Trump and Interior Secretary Bernhardt have known that Pendley is far too controversial and radical to be formally approved for the Director position. So they skipped the confirmation process and appointed him Acting Director instead. Throughout his Acting Director position, he has refused to act on climate change, ignored input of local communities, and leased hundreds of thousand of acres of federal lands to the oil and gas industries.
John, imagine how much additional harm the fossil fuel industry could do to our wild places if the Senate confirms Pendley to oversee the BLM.
Tell the Senate: Pendley’s nomination must be rejected. He is unfit to oversee the agency that protects our public lands.
In addition to having a dismal history of advocating against public lands, Pendley also has a long history of racism. He has:
- Stated the Black Lives Matter movement was built on a lie
- Referred to undocumented immigrants as “a cancer”
- Litigated against Indigenous peoples’ interests
- Opposed government efforts to protect Native sacred sites
- Ignored Blackfeet Nation and their opposition to drilling in Montana’s Badger-Two Medicine region, calling for leases to be reinstated to allow exploratory drilling
This shows Pendley cannot be trusted to uphold the BLM’s responsibility of consulting with -- and respecting the input of -- communities impacted by fossil fuel leasing.
There are 244 million acres of public lands in the United States. Communities rely on these lands for tourism, drinking water, and more. We need you, John, to help protect some of our most iconic wild places and stand with nearby communities in stopping Pendley’s nomination.
Tell the Senate to reject William Perry Pendley’s nomination. Our public lands are in danger.
Standing with you,
Nicole Ghio,
Senior fossil fuels program manager,
Friends of the Earth
