Friday, Aug. 7, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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When President Donald Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act this week, he presented himself as a champion of the nation’s natural areas and the environment. He name-dropped Theodore Roosevelt, not-so-subtly comparing himself to the creator of the national park system.
Great American Outdoors Act is a win for environment
The passage of the Great American Outdoors Act this week was a breath of fresh air both as a piece of policy and as a political exercise.
The measure, which will pump billions into preserving and upgrading outdoor areas, drew bipartisan support and was the result of members of both parties working constructively toward its completion. It was an all-too-rare reminder that Americans can still work through political differences.
It’s also a boon for the national parks and other public lands. The act provides $9.5 billion over the next five years to repair and modernize infrastructure at the 419 national parks, but more importantly, it guarantees revenue in perpetuity for the Land and Water Conservation Fund. That fund, created in 1964, previously had to be renewed on a regular basis but now is guaranteed $900 million a year.
The LWCF, which is funded by revenue from offshore oil and gas drilling leases, has fueled $60 million in projects in Nevada — at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, the Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Sunset Park in Las Vegas, and more.
Southern Nevada’s congressional delegates supported the bill. We applaud them.
Don’t believe it. Trump hasn’t suddenly had a change of heart in his bid to serve up public lands to oil and gas developers, downsize national monuments and otherwise bespoil our outdoor areas.
For proof, look no further than his appointment of William Pendley Perry to be director of the Bureau of Land Management.
Perry, a climate change denier and former activist against environmental regulations, is about as much a friend of public lands as a chainsaw is to a sequoia. But don’t just take our word for it, listen instead to two former BLM officials who blasted Perry recently in a guest column in The Arizona Republic.
“Pendley’s professional experience and personal commitment through the years is to selling off our public lands to the highest bidder,” wrote the officials, a former state BLM director in Arizona and a former deputy director of the agency. “The Bureau of Land Management’s mission is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. This mission is clearly not one that Pendley has supported throughout his professional life.”
That’s putting it mildly. Perry’s history includes:
ν Writing in a 2016 column for the National Review that the “Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold.”
ν Calling in 2017 for the abolishment of the Antiquities Act, which allows presidents to protect public land.
ν Telling a right-wing Montana radio station in 2019 that he was part of an effort “committed to developing all the lands.”
ν Calling the Environmental Protection Act a “joke” and referring to climate change as “fiction” and “junk science.”
ν Heading up the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a right-wing activist group that fought forprivate property rights on public lands, opposing government efforts to support Native American voter rights.
ν Expressing solidarity with the anti-government sovereign-citizen movement, whose followers also include the Bundy family and its militia supporters.
ν Also while part of the activist group, representing clients attempting to open lands surrounding the Grand Canyon to uranium mining, to remove protections for the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, and to drill in numerous other areas.
The list goes on. There’s a reason every Democrat in the Senate opposes Perry’s nomination, and several Republicans are said to be leaning against him.
It should be noted that Perry claims his extremist beliefs won’t have any influence on his work. It should also be noted that talk is cheap and that the BLM has regularly auctioned off parcels of Nevada public lands for energy exploration under Perry, who has been the bureau’s interim director since June 2019.
Perry stands tall in the perp lineup of Trump appointees who spent their careers trying to tear down government organizations before being brought into the administration.
Fortunately for Nevada, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen are on the right side of the nomination, both opposing Perry.
Another possible reason for optimism is that Perry’s nomination has put several Western Republican senators in a tough spot. It’s a bit complicated, but here’s why: Those senators supported the Great American Outdoors Act and could have used the popular piece of legislation to woo voters, but voting for Perry would negate those political gains.
The group includes Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Martha McSally of Arizona, who have to decide whether to defy the Trump administration and vote against Perry or surrender the goodwill from their vote on the legislation.
One thing’s for sure: You can’t truly call yourself a friend of public lands and the environment if you vote for Perry’s nomination.
The Senate should do the right thing for the outdoors again and reject Perry.
