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On Friday, a federal judge in Montana ousted William Perry Pendley as acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, finding he had been unlawfully serving in that capacity for well over a year. The ruling has major implications for the Trump administration, and particularly the Interior Department, which has relied extensively on unconfirmed acting directors to implement its agenda.
The ruling could invalidate a range of recent policies and decisions impacting Western public lands. Judge Brian Morris gave the Interior Department and Montana Governor Steve Bullock, who filed the lawsuit, 10 days to submit examples of actions taken by Pendley that could be set aside. He specifically flagged two land use plans in Montana, recently signed by Pendley, that would open vast areas of public lands for oil and gas development.
“This puts a question mark over every decision he has made,” said Tracy Stone-Manning of the National Wildlife Federation. “And that’s the price the administration pays for not going through the normal process of nominating a director and having that approved by the Senate.”
Public Trust: Feature film on the fight for our public lands
Patagonia has released a feature-length documentary, Public Trust, shining a spotlight on efforts to increase extractive development on public lands and offering a rallying cry for those fighting to preserve our natural heritage for future generations. The full documentary is available on YouTube.
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If this case becomes a template in other districts, then it would follow that all other land use plans that have been approved during Pendley’s illegal tenure could also get thrown out. The potential implication there is stunning — effectively erasing all of the planning work BLM has finalized over the last year, possibly longer.”
