Virginia Cramer, virginia.cramer@sierraclub.org
In an interview with the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Acting Bureau of Land Management Director William Pendley made clear his ambitions to remove the “acting” from his title and assume the role of BLM director. He also wants to be based at the new BLM headquarters in Grand Junction-- unlike many other career BLM staff who will likely be getting reassignment paperwork this week.
While it’s no surprise Pendly has a grand view of himself, it’s worth taking a moment to remember what his official appointment could mean for public lands and communities, especially those in the West.
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Pendley is a climate change denier. Public lands are the source of about a quarter of US climate emissions. That number will continue to rise as BLM continues to auction off millions of acres for dirty fuel development. On the flip side, smart land conservation and management could actually offset greenhouse gas emissions. Sixty percent of lands in the continental US, many of them public, are already in or could be restored to a largely natural condition, providing tremendous carbon storage potential. That potential will never be realized with someone at the helm who willfully ignores the climate challenges in front of us and the important role public lands must play in addressing it.
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He’s moving the BLM in with the oil and gas industry-- literally. Pendley is leading efforts to scatter agency positions across the West as BLM moves employees out of Washington, D.C. The relocation is moving quickly forward without funding, and will undercut the effectiveness of BLM’s work to manage public lands. Similar relocation of USDA offices resulted in the loss of huge numbers of expert staff.
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Pendley doesn’t believe the national public lands he would manage should even exist. Enough said.
William Perry Pendly will not act in the best interests of public lands, the communities that rely on them, or the public servants that maintain them. Pendley has shown himself to be not only unfit to serve as director of the Bureau of Land Management, but ultimately dangerous to a stable future entwined with natural spaces.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.5 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.