** New year, new BLM headquarters, same acting director
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Monday, January 6, 2020
The new location of the Bureau of Land Management ([link removed]) headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt extended the temporary appointment ([link removed]) of anti-public lands extremist William Perry Pendley to continue to oversee the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the federal agency charged with managing more than 245 million acres of our country's public lands. Secretary Bernhardt's decision arrived just in time for the opening of the BLM's new headquarters ([link removed]) in Grand Junction, Colorado, a controversial decision that has been criticized by both lawmakers ([link removed]) and BLM retirees ([link removed]) as unnecessary and designed to dismantle the agency
([link removed]) through the attrition of Washington, D.C.-based employees who are forced to uproot their lives and move across the country, resign, or face termination.

A coalition of more than 91 organizations ([link removed]) wrote to Secretary Bernhardt requesting that Pendley be removed from his position or resign, arguing that he is a threat to the agency he now leads. According to Jayson O'Neill, Deputy Director of the Western Values Project ([link removed]) , “Secretary Bernhardt’s redelegation of the BLM director’s authority to anti-public lands zealot Pendley is a slap in the face to all public land users and the U.S. Constitution,” and that putting Pendley “in charge of the BLM again is the equivalent of the Trump administration openly putting America’s public lands up for sale.”


** 2019: The year in swamp
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In the final episode of "Go West, Young Podcast ([link removed]) " ([link removed]) for 2019, we take a look at how multinational mining companies and clients of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt’s former lobbying firm are running roughshod over public lands.
Quick hits


** The Trump administration puts science on the sidelines
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The New York Times ([link removed])


** Glenwood Springs mine expansion proposal to get closer scrutiny by the BLM
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CPR ([link removed])


** Federal agencies are required to consult with tribal nations on oil and gas infrastructure projects, but often don't
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Grist ([link removed])


** Interior Secretary extends tenure of anti-public lands official overseeing the BLM for 3 more months
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Washington Post ([link removed]) | The Hill ([link removed])


** Acting head of BLM asked to resign by coalition of 91 organizations
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Newsweek ([link removed]) | NPR ([link removed])


** Podcast: 2019, the year in swamp
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Go West, Young Podcast ([link removed])


** Opinion: William Perry Pendley is a threat to public lands
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Billings Gazette ([link removed])


** Opinion: Public lands can unite a divided country in 2020
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The Hill ([link removed])
Quote of the day
While there’s seemingly almost no political issue today on which our two political parties or their constituents can agree, America's 640+ million acres of federally protected public lands represent a shining exception.”
—Mark Kenyon, author and contributor to The Hill ([link removed])
Picture this


** @ ([link removed]) BLMNational ([link removed])
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Today is #NationalBirdDay ([link removed]) ! Did you know that BLM-managed lands provide habitat to 3,000+ species of wildlife, including birds? Visit soon for prime bird watching opportunities: [link removed] ([link removed]) .
Photo: Gerald Guss, Nirmala Khandan, Mara Weisenberger @BLMNewMexico ([link removed])

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