President Trump is scrapping the nomination of William Pendley, who was nominated in June to lead the Bureau of Land Management, according to officials.
A senior White House official confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Saturday that Pendley’s nomination would be withdrawn. Pendley has served as temporary director of the BLM for slightly over a year, but his nomination to lead the agency permanently met fierce and unified opposition among Democrats on Capitol Hill and environmental groups.
Sen. Tom Udall said in a Saturday statement that a withdrawal of Pendley’s nomination “would be good news for all who value public lands, conservation, and Tribal sovereignty.”
“It’s hard to imagine a worse pick for BLM than someone who doesn’t believe in the very idea of conservation, who has a clear history of racism toward Native Americans, and who spearheaded a relocation effort that is a transparent effort to undermine the very agency he would oversee,” the New Mexico Democrat said.
Prior to the news that Pendley was being pulled, every single Democrat in the Senate announced that they would oppose his nomination in a letter to Trump. The letter blasted Pendley for his longtime support of the government selling off federal lands and for his doubts about the reality of climate change.
“Mr. Pendley’s public record, including his advocacy for reducing public lands and access to them, routine attempts to undermine tribes, and climate change denial makes him unfit for the position,” wrote Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico in the letter. “[BLM] needs a leader who reflects the values of the American people and their support for access to public lands. Mr. Pendley’s record lays bare his decades of opposition to those values.”
Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Cory Gardner of Colorado had been placed in a difficult position because of Pendley’s nomination. The two both face reelection this fall and have touted their conservationist bona fides after the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. They would have been put in an uncomfortable position if they had to vote in favor of Pendley, whose nomination was opposed by a coalition of hundreds of tribal, environmental, and civil rights groups.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the BLM for comment about the pulled nomination. The Department of the Interior confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Pendley will continue to serve in his current capacity.
