Trump to nominate Pendley to head BLM

Kay Cashman

Petroleum News

President Donald Trump said June 26 that he will nominate William Perry Pendley to permanently fill the position of director of the Bureau of Land Management in the U.S. Department of Interior. Pendley has been serving as acting director of the agency since July 2019.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt was pleased with the announcement: “I commend President Trump’s intent to nominate William Perry Pendley who has been a leader at the Bureau of Land Management for nearly a year. He’s doing a great job, including acquiring more than 25,000 acres of public land for expanded recreational access,” Bernhardt said.

Prior to being named acting director, Pendley served as BLM’s deputy director for policy and programs. He is overseeing the agency's headquarters move west from Washington, D.C., to Grand Junction, Colorado, which was prompted by the fact that more than 99% of federal programs and lands, which total 245 million acres, are in the western U.S. About 60 positions from programs with inherently D.C.-based responsibilities as well as the deputy director for policy and programs will stay in the D.C. area.

Before joining BLM, Pendley was head of Colorado-based Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative public interest law firm. He worked there for nearly 30 years.

Born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Pendley received B.A. and M.A. degrees in Economics and Political Science from George Washington University.

He was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, after which he received his J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law.

Pendley was also attorney for former Sen. Clifford P. Hansen, Wyoming, and for the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee. During the Reagan administration he served as deputy assistant secretary for Interior’s Energy and Minerals, where he authored President Reagan’s National Minerals Policy and Exclusive Economic Zone proclamation.

- KAY CASHMAN