After threatening to sue Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt if he extended two acting directors’ appointments past May 5, two groups are moving forward with a lawsuit.
The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and Western Watersheds Project are suing Bernhardt after he extended the appointments of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Acting Director William Perry Pendley and National Park Service (NPS) Acting Director David Vela an additional 30 days.
Pendley and Vela are also named as defendants in the suit. The two groups claim Bernhardt violated the Constitution by not confirming the directors by the U.S. Senate, and the two directors have never been named or qualified to serve under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
“The illegitimate Pendley appointment is particularly troublesome because he has forcibly moved the BLM Headquarters from Washington, D.C., to remote western Colorado,” said PEER Senior Counsel Peter Jenkins.
“In doing so he uprooted the lives of scores of seasoned BLM staff and disrupted this already strained agency.” Vela has been criticized for his handling of parks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
