CONTACT

Whitney Tawney

Montana Conservation Voters

whitney@mtvoters.org, 406-254-1593

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 8, 2019

MCV: Daines’ support for public lands foe a ‘thumb in the eye’

Senator says yes to controversial BLM chief William Perry Pendley

(BOZEMAN, Mont.) – Montana Conservation Voters is asking its thousands of members to contact Senator Steve Daines after the junior lawmaker told a Capitol Hill newspaper that he will vote yes in support of controversial acting BLM chief William Perry Pendley, a longtime foe of public lands.

The publication Energy & Environment News (E&E) reported Daines said “yes” to a question about whether he would support Pendley if Trump nominated Pendley as Director of the BLM.

“Montanans deserve more than a one word answer about Senator Steve Daines’ support for William Perry Pendley because support for Pendley is support for privatizing Montana’s public lands,” said Whitney Tawney, Deputy Director of Montana Conservation Voters. “And a thumbs up for William Perry Pendley is a thumb in the eye to all of us who own public lands.”

MCV has long raised concerns about Pendley’s record opposing public lands. In 2016, Pendley told National Review that the “Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold.” He also represented energy companies looking to drill the Badger-Two Medicine region, which is sacred to the Blackfeet Nation. And Pendley recently told a radio show that he’s part of a push “committed to developing all the lands.”

Pendley is currently acting director of the BLM, which oversees 250 million acres of publicly owned land. The Senate has not yet confirmed him in that position.

Senator Jon Tester called Pendley’s leadership “a grave threat to the future of public lands in Montana and across the country.” MCV is now asking all of its members to contact Senator Daines to express their concerns about Pendley. Senator Daines’ phone number in Washington is: (202) 224-2651.

The story by E&E appears below.

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Daines signals support for Pendley to stay at BLM

Kellie Lunney, E&E News reporter, November 8, 2019

Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines said yesterday he’d support William Perry Pendley, the acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, if President Trump nominated him for the job.

“Yes,” Daines told E&E News in response to the question in a brief exchange on Capitol Hill as he hustled to afternoon votes.

The White House has not yet nominated anyone for the Senate-confirmed BLM job, a position responsible for managing nearly 250 million acres of federal land.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in September extended Pendley’s temporary stint as the agency’s chief through Jan. 3 (Greenwire, Oct. 1).

Pendley, who is also BLM’s deputy director of policy and programs, has attracted vocal opposition from many conservationists, Democrats and green groups for his controversial ideas and writings over the years about public lands management.

The Wyoming native and self-described “sagebrush rebel” has argued in the past against the federal government’s ownership of public lands, but recently has made efforts to soften his views (Energywire, Sept. 4).

“The Trump administration is crystal clear in its opposition to any wholesale disposal or transfer of federal lands,” Pendley wrote in an Aug. 30 op-ed in The Denver Post. “Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt is steadfast in that opposition, and, as a proud member of the Trump administration, I am as well.”

Public lands stewardship and access is an important issue in Montana, a state where hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation are hugely popular and lucrative.

Montana’s other senator, Democrat Jon Tester, has expressed concerns over Pendley’s role at BLM. Last month, he said “a man who has spent his entire career calling for the sale of our public lands should not be in charge of them, plain and simple.”

“A thumbs up for William Perry Pendley is a thumb in the eye to all of us who own public lands,” Whitney Tawney, deputy director of Montana Conservation Voters, said in an email.

In August, Daines said during public events in Montana that concerns about Pendley were “overblown” but did not say at the time whether he’d support him (Greenwire, Aug. 14).

Daines opposes the sale or transfer of federal lands and often speaks of the importance of public lands in the Treasure State.

The Senate Republican earlier this week sent a letter to Trump urging him to formally nominate as soon as possible “qualified individuals who have strong western values” to key Interior vacancies, including for the BLM director job.

Daines also called on the White House to nominate candidates to lead the National Park Service and serve as a special trustee for American Indians.

“These leadership positions manage and regulate the resources critical to contributing to our nation’s economy, such as recreation and conservation, energy and mineral development, as well as our fiduciary trust responsibilities to American Indians and tribes,” Daines wrote.