Advocate for selling off public lands will remain BLM's acting director

Rebecca Beitsch

A newly signed secretarial order means acting Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Director William Pendley will stay in his position despite objections from lawmakers over his anti-government philosophy. The order signed Monday by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt leaves Pendley in that position through Jan. 3. Pendley is a controversial figure in conservation circles given his longtime advocacy for selling off public lands. His ethics pledge includes a 17-page recusal list that shows his ties with a number of industries that stand to benefit from greater access to public lands. On Thursday, a dozen Democratic lawmakers voiced their opposition to Pendley, asking Bernhardt to withdraw Pendley’s acting status as director of BLM. “As the BLM considers a major reorganization, there is no reason for this effort to be led by an Acting Director who spent his career attempting to dismantle the agency,” the senators wrote, saying the role should go to someone who believes in multiple balanced uses of the agency. They nodded to a quote from Pendley that called the federal government “the world’s worst neighbor.” “We can think of no worse neighbor than one who spent the last thirty years trying to burn down the neighborhood,” the senators said... MORE

They nodded to a quote from Pendley that called the federal government “the world’s worst neighbor.” “We can think of no worse neighbor than one who spent the last thirty years trying to burn down the neighborhood,” the senators said...

Burn down the neighborhood? That statement is laughable. Let's look at the facts, keeping in mind that while the feds own 29% of the total land area in the U.S., 51% of all wildfires occur on federal land.

---Every year since 2000, an average of 72,400 wildfires have burned an average of 7 million acres. 2015 was the worst, with 10.1 million acres burned.

---Of the 1.4 million wildfires that have occurred since 2000, 189 exceeded 100,000 acres, and 13 exceeded 500,000 acres.

---From 2015-2018, 47,044 structures burned and 58 firefighters lost their lives

---4.5 million U.S. homes are identified as being at high or extreme risk of wildfire

Does that sound like a good neighbor to you?

Advantage Pendley.