“Last month Massachusetts lawmakers finalized, and the Governor subsequently signed, emergency legislation S.2757, aimed at revamping the state’s approach to mosquito management. The final version of this mosquito reform bill continues to include certain problematic provisions, but nonetheless represents a significant shift from an initial proposal that would have allowed the blanket spraying of mosquito...

“A large coalition of environmental and social justice groups, including the NAACP, urged members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in a letter today to reject Pendley. Among other things, the letter cites Pendley’s “track record of dismantling the very agency he is tasked with managing” — a reference to BLM’s controversial headquarters...

“Decades of conservation efforts have brought the Kemp’s ridley sea turtles back from the brink of extinction. It now looks like their future may be in peril once again. The National Park Service is proposing massive cuts in conservation officers. It’s a change that could have a devastating impact on the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle...

“William Perry Pendley, the longtime president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative legal fund that has fought the federal government on a host of issues in the American West, is now preparing for confirmation hearings to become the permanent director of the Bureau of Land Management. Peter Jenkins, a senior counsel at Public...

“EPA yesterday finalized a rule to speed up industry permit appeals, overhauling the decades-old process at the agency. In past decades, more states and tribes have assumed permitting authority under the law, EPA added. The final rule, the agency said, “clarifies the EAB’s scope of reviews and makes permits effective more quickly.” The changes will...

“On Monday, Montana’s Democratic governor Steve Bullock filed a lawsuit to block William Perry Pendley from using the powers of a BLM director. Bullock, who is also running for a Senate seat, argues that it’s illegal for Pendley to use that authority without Senate confirmation, citing the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the U.S. Constitution....

“As the presidential primaries began, a February Pew Research poll found that for the first time concern for environmental protection among two-thirds of Americans nearly equaled their concern for the economy. Concern over climate climbed to equal concern about jobs for half of Americans. Then came COVID-19, followed by the protests over police brutality and...

“Amid the COVID-19 crisis and the uprisings against police brutality and systemic racism, it is understandable if many Americans overlooked the Trump administration’s continued attacks on the management of public lands and the Constitution’s mandates about how our leaders are appointed. The most recent attack of this type came with President Trump’s June 30, 2020,...

“Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has added his name to the growing list of those challenging the legality of William Perry Pendley’s authority to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Bullock’s lawsuit is similar to one filed in May by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Western Watersheds Project that also challenges the legality...

“The controversial acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, William Perry Pendley, is facing another lawsuit challenging his service as he awaits Senate confirmation. A Monday suit, filed in Montana Gov. Steve Bullock‘s (D) capacity as governor, challenges Pendley’s authority, arguing federal law prohibits acting directors from serving while their nomination is pending. The...