FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2020

MCV sounds alarm on Daines and Gianforte silence after extension of anti-public lands BLM chief

Silence is ‘deeply concerning,’ organization says of lawmakers’ support for unconfirmed director

(BILLINGS, Mont.) – Saying the silence around the extension of acting Bureau of Land Management director William Perry Pendley is “deeply concerning” and “may be more for political expediency in an election year,” Montana Conservation Voters is calling on U.S. Senator Steve Daines and Congressman Greg Gianforte to oppose the anti-public lands bureaucrat.

The Trump Administration quietly extended Pendley’s controversial tenure as “acting” director of the BLM was late last Friday.

MCV this week sent a letter to Daines and Gianforte expressing deep disappointment and concern with Pendley’s second extension, citing Pendley’s “long record of opposing America’s public lands” and the fact the BLM has “quietly rushed through 35 actions since President Trump signed the first coronavirus emergency response bill on March 6.”

“Your continued silence on the issue of Montana’s public lands is deeply concerning, and it indicates that your rhetoric in support of public lands may be more for political expediency in an election year,” wrote MCV Executive Director Aaron Murphy. “With last Friday’s second extension to at least May 5, Mr. Pendley will have served at the BLM for nearly a year –a year without a proper Senate confirmation vote as the U.S. Constitution requires.”

MCV’s letter comes on the heels of a letter sent to Montana’s congressional delegation in February from hundreds of Montanans who expressed concern about Pendley’s appointment. Senator Jon Tester has repeatedly questioned and opposed Pendley’s position at BLM while Senator Daines and Congressman Gianforte have remained silent.

“Because you have yet to acknowledge the hundreds of Montanans who have already expressed concern about Mr. Pendley’s appointment via our letter to you dated February 6, we are specifically requesting your direct response to the constituents you serve and have ignored,” Murphy wrote.

 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. Pendley also told a Montana radio show that he’s part of a push “committed to developing all the lands.”

MCV’s full letter to Daines and Gianforte is online HERE.

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