FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2020

MCV: ‘We expect our Congressional delegation to stand up for Montanans’

Trump Administration officially nominates Pendley for BLM Director

(BOZEMAN, Mont.) – Montana Conservation Voters released the following statement from Deputy Director Whitney Tawney in response to the Trump Administration’s intention to formally nominate public lands foe William Perry Pendley as the director of the Bureau of Land Management:

“Although this nomination is almost a year late, MCV welcomes the opportunity for our U.S. Senators to make a call on William Perry Pendley’s fitness to manage over 250 million acres of our public lands. Hint: he’s not. Pendley’s support for selling off our public lands and overturning Montana’s stream access law shows he is wholly unfit to serve in any position related to our public lands, let alone Director of the Bureau of Land Management. We expect our Congressional delegation to stand up for Montanans and oppose Pendley’s nomination.”

Pendley’s nomination comes on the heels of MCV’s letter asking for an up or down vote on his position at the BLM.
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.”

In 2000, Pendley sued the State of Montana seeking to overturn the state’s prized stream access law.

Pendley is currently acting director of the BLM, which oversees 250 million acres of publicly owned land. During the coronavirus pandemic, the BLM has taken 35 actions to weaken environmental protections.

MCV’s full letter to Senator Daines, Senator Tester and Congressman Gianforte is online HERE.

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