Statement of Brent Bolin, Clean Water Fund political director
Note: In what can only be termed “absurd”, the chief Federal official in charge of America’s public lands, William Perry Pendley, today said the biggest threat facing America’s public lands is not climate change, not under-regulated fossil fuel companies pilfering the public estate, not the zeroing out of Land and Water Conservation Fund funding in the President's proposed budget, not the unprecedented rollback of environmental protections for priceless lands and endangered species but instead is...wild horses.
The comments came at the annual Society of Environmental Journalists’ conference, where during a Q&A expert journalists from across the country demanded answers from Pendley’s on the lack of transparency at the Department of Interior, the avaricious anti-politic lands agenda of the Trump Administration, along with his radical comments on immigration and climate change denialism.
In response Brent Bolin, political director at Clean Water Fund issued the following statement:
“William Perry Pendley has always been an extreme, fringe figure in the public lands world, but today he completely jumped the shark. While wildlife management is a serious issue, to think that animals are the biggest threat facing our public lands is beyond absurd. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad. If we needed any more confirmation of the dark lunacy coursing through the senior ranks at Interior we just got it. Their anti-public lands agenda is so pronounced that they need to cast around for alternative threats just to appear in touch. Today is a stark reminder of the lack of dignity of a once strong and responsible public institution tasked with stewarding our public lands.”
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Since our founding during the campaign to pass the landmark Clean Water Act in 1972, Clean Water Action has worked to win strong health and environmental protections by bringing issue expertise, solution-oriented thinking and people power to the table. We will protect clean water in the face of attacks from a polluter friendly Administration. www.cleanwater.org/nj