BLM chief says he's thankful for speeding up environmental reviews
William Pendley, the acting director of the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM), said in a Thanksgiving note to staff on
Friday that he was thankful for the agency’s achievements, including
changes to the environmental review process that allows for
fast-tracking of major projects on public lands. Projects
on government land like logging, mining and pipelines can’t proceed
without an environmental impact statement (EIS) — something
critics argue unnecessarily slows down projects as government experts
weigh how it would impact the environment and ecosystem. The
Trump administration has vowed to speed up the process, something Perry
said is already well under way, according to an email obtained by The
Hill. “The average EIS once
ran for 1,485 pages and took over four years to complete. This year,
those numbers dropped to 151 pages within 15 months. Similarly, the
average [environmental assessment] length prior to 2017 was 42 pages
written over one year. This year, those numbers dropped to 27 pages in
just three months,” Pendley wrote of “streamlining the environmental
review process.” Pendley also boasted about other
developments at BLM, including the sale of 250 million board feet of
timber valued at $62.4 million, the most the agency has offered up since
1993. They’ve also sold off or adopted 7,104 wild horses and burros —
the highest number in 15 years...MORE
What a great Thanksgiving message from Pendley. Let's hope he can deliver many more "Greetings from Grand Junction."
2 comments:
Pendley has always been a great ally. Thankful for him and Mtn. States Legal Foundation.
Not every BLM office is paying attention to those directions.
I just reviewed a draft EA for renewal of a grazing permit by the Carson City Nevada BLM office that runs well over 100 pages just like it was still 2016. Earlier, the ranch delivered copies of the Presidential Executive Orders and Secretarial Orders that told the BLM employees to support agriculture and shorten up the NEPA process. Agency answered by stating they had not been told "how to do that" yet (in 2018) so they would not change their long established process.
Mr. Pendley still has some work to do in our area.
Post a Comment