西雅图-总统唐纳德·特朗普一位政府高级官员周六表示，打算撤回威廉·佩里·彭德利(William Perry Pendley)担任土地管理局局长的提名，这让环境保护主义者松了一口气，他们坚持认为长期主张出售联邦土地的人不应该监督他们。
彭德利是怀俄明州的前石油工业和产权律师，根据内政部长大卫·伯恩哈特的一系列临时命令，他已经担任该机构的主任一年多了。民主党人声称临时命令是试图绕过提名过程，蒙大拿州州长史蒂夫·布洛克和环保组织已经提起诉讼，要求彭德利下台。
特朗普在6月宣布提名彭德利担任该局局长。一位不愿透露姓名的政府高级官员周六证实，总统打算撤回提名，因为他们无权讨论此事。
“好!”民主党人布洛克周六在推特上写道。“威廉·佩里·彭德利想要卖掉我们的公共土地——他无权掌管这些土地。”
该局监管着美国西部近25亿英亩的公共土地和美国大部分陆上油气开发。
白宫没有对这一决定做出解释，预计在参议院重新开会之前，这一决定不会成为官方决定。内政部在一份声明中说，总统决定人员配备，彭德利继续作为项目和政策的副主任领导该机构。
彭德利在2017年的一篇文章中指出，“开国元勋们打算出售联邦政府所有的土地，”他担任非营利性的山区州法律基金会主席长达30年，该基金会代表牧场主、石油和天然气开采者、矿工和其他寻求利用公共土地获取商业利益的人开展工作。
彭德利参与的案例中，有一个挑战国家林地灰熊保护的案例。在另一个案例中，他试图证实一位能源开发商的说法，即在蒙大拿州冰川国家公园附近被黑脚印第安部落视为神圣的土地上钻探石油。两个月前，一家联邦上诉法院驳回了这项努力。
他的著作包括《对西方的战争:美国大边疆的政府暴政》，他批评环保主义者是极端分子，并表示支持内华达州牧场主克莱恩·邦迪(Cliven Bundy)，他的家人曾与联邦特工发生武装对峙。
特朗普在宣布提名时表示，彭德利“努力增加在我国公共土地上的娱乐机会和进入机会，提高人们对野马和驴子对公共土地的影响的关注，并提高人们对该局多用途使命的认识。”
内政部对彭德利想要出售联邦土地的说法提出质疑，称土地管理局在他的领导下已经获得了25000英亩土地。
在担任局长期间，彭德利监督了该局的大部分工作从华盛顿转移到西部的各个地方，包括其位于科罗拉多州格兰德结的新总部——自然资源保护主义者认为此举是为了削弱该机构。
该机构还寻求放宽奥巴马政府时期通过的石油和天然气开采规定。最近的一项提案将简化测量和报告从联邦土地生产的石油和天然气的要求，预计在未来十年为能源公司节省超过1.3亿美元。
美国国家野生动物联合会主席兼首席执行官科林·奥马拉(Collin O'Mara)在一份电子邮件声明中表示:“威廉·佩里·彭德利(William Perry Pendley)自2019年被任命为土地管理局代理局长以来，每天都不适合领导该局。”“他在今年6月被提名，直到数百万美国人和当选官员发表意见后才被撤回，这一事实表明本届政府的优先考虑是错误的。”
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美联社记者艾默·马德尼在新泽西州的贝德明斯特报道。
Trump to withdraw Pendley's nomination as public lands chief
SEATTLE -- PresidentDonald Trumpintends to withdraw the nomination of William Perry Pendley to head the Bureau of Land Management, a senior administration official said Saturday — much to the relief of environmentalists who insisted the longtime advocate of selling federal lands should not be overseeing them.
Pendley, a former oil industry and property rights attorney from Wyoming, has been acting as the director of the agency for more than a year under a series of temporary orders from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Democrats alleged the temporary orders were an attempt to skirt the nomination process, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and conservation groups have filed lawsuits to have Pendley removed from office.
Trump announced Pendley's nomination to become the bureau's director in June. A senior administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, confirmed Saturday that the president intended to withdraw that nomination.
“Good!” Bullock, a Democrat, tweeted Saturday. “William Perry Pendley wants to sell off our public lands – and has no business being in charge of them.”
The bureau oversees nearly a quarter-billion public acres in the U.S. West and much of the nation’s onshore oil and gas development.
The White House did not offer an explanation for the decision, which is not expected to become official until the Senate returns to session. The Interior Department said in a statement that the president makes staffing decisions and that Pendley continues leading the agency as deputy director for programs and policy.
Pendley, who in a 2017 essay argued that the “Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold,” spent three decades as president of the nonprofit Mountain States Legal Foundation, which has worked on behalf of ranchers, oil and gas drillers, miners and others seeking to use public lands for commercial gain.
Among the cases Pendley worked on was one challenging grizzly bear protections on national forest land. In another, he sought to validate an energy developer's claim to drill for oil on land considered sacred by the Blackfeet Indian Tribe near Glacier National Park in Montana. A federal appeals court rejected the effort two months ago.
The author of books that include “War on the West: Government Tyranny on America’s Great Frontier,” he has criticized environmentalists as extremists and expressed support for Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose family has engaged in armed standoffs with federal agents.
In his announcement of the nomination, Trump said Pendley had “worked to increase recreational opportunities on and access to our Nation’s public lands, heighten concern for the impact of wild horses and burros on public lands, and increase awareness of the Bureau’s multiple-use mission.”
The Interior Department has disputed the notion that Pendley wants to sell off federal lands, saying the Bureau of Land Management has acquired 25,000 acres under his leadership.
While acting as director, Pendley has overseen the relocation of most of the bureau’s jobs from Washington to various locations in the West, including its new headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado — a move conservationists consider an effort to weaken the agency.
The agency has also sought to ease rules for oil and gas drilling that were adopted under the Obama administration. One recent proposal, which would streamline requirements for measuring and reporting oil and gas produced from federal land, is projected to save energy companies more than $130 million over the next decade.
“William Perry Pendley has been unfit to lead the Bureau of Land Management every day since he was appointed acting director in 2019," Collin O’Mara, president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, said in an emailed statement. “The fact that he was nominated this June and not withdrawn until millions of Americans and elected officials spoke out illustrates the wrongheaded priorities of this administration.”
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AP writer Aamer Madhani contributed from Bedminster, New Jersey.
