Environmentalists’ “hopes and dreams are about to be crushed” if they think the court-ordered removal of the Bureau of Land Management’s chief will invalidate his actions, U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt said on Friday.
On Sept. 25, a federal district judge in Montana found that William Perry Pendley served unlawfully as the acting head of the BLM beyond the 210 days federal law allows, after Bernhardt continually delegated the authority of the director to him. The judge’s ruling about Pendley’s more-than-yearlong service has raised the possibility of his actions being voided because his appointment was improper.
“I think we’ll find any action Perry took was consistent with the law,” Bernhardt said in an interview with Colorado Politics. “I know there are advocacy groups that have hypothesized about how things will happen. What I would say to them is their hopes and dreams are about to be crushed.”
He added that the groups’ “inflammatory rhetoric” is “completely detached from the reality of the legal process.” Bernhardt said he would abide by the judge’s order unless it is overturned, and has the authority over all bureaus within the Interior Department, including to manage the BLM in the absence of a Senate-confirmed director.
Pendley, he said, would continue to serve as the deputy director of policy and programs, the position he has held even while serving as acting director. The secretary maintained that the continued appointments of Pendley were “necessary and appropriate, and in my 20 years of experience with the Department of the Interior, these authorities have been used consistently and regularly.”
“No legal authority exists for this kind of delegation from the Secretary,” countered Chief Judge Brian Morris in his opinion in the Montana case ordering Pendley’s removal.
Source: Colorado Politics