budd-falen
<p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">huffpo tag</font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/topic/william-perry-pendley">https://www.huffpost.com/topic/william-perry-pendley</a></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">what fresh hell under radar</font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);"> Trump will formally nominate William Perry Pendley, a self-proclaimed “sagebrush rebel” with extreme anti-environmental views and a long history of advocating for the sale of federal lands in the West, to serve as director of the Bureau of Land Management.</span><span style="font-style: italic; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);"> [</span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-william-perry-pendley-bureau-land-management_n_5e02645de4b0843d3601dd79" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; font-style: italic; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Huffpo</em></a><span style="font-style: italic; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);">]</span></font></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><span style="font-style: italic; background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></p><p id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading"><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-william-perry-pendley-bureau-land-management_n_5e02645de4b0843d3601dd79"><font size="4" color="#000000" face="Times New Roman">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-william-perry-pendley-bureau-land-management_n_5e02645de4b0843d3601dd79</font></a></p><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="1" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">t<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="1" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: none; background-color: rgba(13, 190, 152, 0.7); padding-top: 2px; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: none; transition: background-color 350ms ease-out 0s;">rump</a> will formally nominate William Perry Pendley, a self-proclaimed “sagebrush rebel” with extreme anti-environmental views and a long history of advocating for the sale of federal lands in the West, to serve as director of the Bureau of Land Management. </font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="2" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Pendley was </span><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2019/07/15/stories/1060743503" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">tapped last July</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> for a senior policy position at BLM, an agency of the Department of the Interior, and quickly elevated to acting chief. The backdoor appointment put him in charge of overseeing 245 million acres of </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/topic/public-land" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="3" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">public land</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> — more than 10% of the entire U.S. landmass — and 700 million subsurface mineral acres. It also enraged environmentalists and </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/william-perry-pendley-federal-land_n_5d427083e4b0acb57fc7324e" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">sparked fears of a public lands sell-off</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">. </span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="3" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pendley, a native of Wyoming, is the former longtime president of Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative nonprofit that has pushed for the government to sell off millions of federal acres. He’s written several books about Western land issues, including one titled “Sagebrush Rebel,” a reference to the Sagebrush Rebellion movement of the 1970s and ’80s that sought to remove lands from federal control. In a January 2016 op-ed published by The National Review, he wrote: “Founding Fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold.”</font></span></p></div><div class="teads-entry-placement js-teads-entry-placement" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teads-entrycontent" id="teads-entry-desktop" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="4" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The Trump administration has </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ryan-zinke-public-lands-sale-transfer_n_5c0048b1e4b027f1097be381" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:4;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">vowed</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> not to dispose of public lands. Yet it has cozied up to members of the pro-land transfer movement and </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/15/657542759/critic-of-federal-public-lands-management-to-join-department-of-the-interior" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:4;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="6" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">tapped</span></a><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ryan-zinke-public-lands-sale-transfer_n_5c0048b1e4b027f1097be381" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:4;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="7" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> several</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> opponents of federal land policy for high-ranking department positions. Pendley has </span><a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2019/08/30/william-perry-pendley-rebutting-a-popular-myth-about-my-position-on-public-lands/" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:4;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">dismissed</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> concerns about his stance on federal lands and said his personal views and past statements ― including some that described climate science as “</span><a href="https://twitter.com/Sagebrush_Rebel/status/1133432004169461760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1133432004169461760&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Flegacy%2Fsenior-bureau-land-management-official-right-wing-pundit-who-has-said-climate-change-isnt" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:4;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">junk science</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">” and comparing immigrants to a “</span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/08/politics/william-perry-pendley-blm-kfile/index.html" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:4;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">cancer</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">” ― are “irrelevant” to leading a bureau. </span> </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-nominate-appoint-individuals-key-administration-posts-43/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:5;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="12" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">release</a> announcing Trump’s intent to nominate him to the director post, the White House said Pendley “has worked to increase recreational opportunities on and access to our Nation’s public lands, heighten concern for the impact of wild horses and burros on public lands, and increase awareness of the Bureau’s multiple-use mission.”</font></p></div><figure class="content-list-component image yr-content-list-image" data-rapid-subsec="entry-image" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 40px auto; max-width: 630px; min-width: initial; width: 630px; line-height: 0; text-align: center; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"><div class="imagemeta-wrapper js-image-meta-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4em; text-align: left; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="text-transform: uppercase;">[</span>
</font><figcaption class="image__caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 8px; line-height: 16px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this photo from Oct. 11, 2019, William Perry Pendley speaks at a conference for journalists in Fort Collins, Colorado.]</font></figcaption></div></figure><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="6" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Pendley also has ties to Lyndon LaRouche, the late cult leader, convicted fraudster and paranoid conspiracy theorist, as HuffPost first </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/william-perry-pendley-lyndon-larouche-environment_n_5db34813e4b079eb95a33d3e" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:6;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="13" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">reported</span></a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">. Pendley published anti-environmental pieces in </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">21st Century Science & Technology</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">, a fringe LaRouche magazine loaded with pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, and documents indicate he was at a 1994 conference where two of LaRouche’s associates called on anti-environmental groups to help kill Senate support for an international biodiversity treaty. Pendley dismissed his connections to LaRouche as “irrelevant."</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">sen Tom Udall of New Mexico, the ranking Democrat on the interior and environment appropriations subcommittee, told HuffPost that Pendley’s writings in 21st Century Science & Technology</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> were “yet another clear sign he should not be in charge of the BLM” and should step down. </span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="8" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Trump Administration should nominate someone who believes in the agency’s mission and supports protecting our thriving outdoor recreation economy and iconic wildlife—not a longtime advocate of selling off U.S. public lands to the highest bidder,” Udall said in an email.</font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="9" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nearly 100 environmental organizations signed on to a <a href="https://www.westernwatersheds.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Pendley-resignation-letter-final-2.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="19" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">letter</a> in late December demanding Pendley resign or be removed from office. The groups argued that he poses an “existential threat” to America’s public lands.</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="10" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“President Trump is doubling down on his record as the most <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/analysis-trump-public-lands-rollbacks_n_5ec59af1c5b6df8b159bf287" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="20" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">anti-nature president</a> in U.S. history,” Kate Kelly, public lands director at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said in a statement Friday. “The nomination of William Perry Pendley sends a clear signal that Trump plans to move ahead with a radical, sweeping, and unpopular sell-off of America’s public lands.”</font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="11" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pendley had <a href="https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/acting-director-of-blm-says-he-d-like-to-live/article_cc9c8868-01ef-11ea-8c0e-20677ce05640.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:11;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="21" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">voiced interest</a> in becoming BLM’s permanent director, telling the Daily Sentinel in Grand Junction, Colorado, in November that he would welcome the opportunity but that it was ultimately up to the White House. <span style="box-sizing: inherit;">The job requires Senate confirmation, meaning Pendley will soon face tough questions under oath from Democrats who say he’s unfit to lead the powerful agency. </span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="12" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pendley’s first stint in government was under James Watt, President Ronald Reagan’s Interior Department chief, who is widely considered among the most anti-environment Cabinet appointees in U.S. history. Pendley joined Watt’s Interior Department in 1981 as deputy assistant secretary of the Minerals Management Service and has been described as Watt’s “<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/Pendley%20joined%20Watt%E2%80%99s%20Interior%20Department%20in%201981%20as%20deputy%20assistant%20secretary%20of%20the%20Minerals%20Management%20Service." target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:12;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="22" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">ideological twin</a>.” </font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="13" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Along with extreme views on federal land policy, Pendley detests the Endangered Species Act, once writing the conservation law seeks “<a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/04/bundy-ranch-standoff-could-spark-new-sagebrush-rebellion-william-perry-pendley/" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="23" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">to kill or prevent anybody from making a living on federal land</a>.” He has sued the federal government numerous times in the last three decades, railed often against environmental “terrorists” and “eco-fascists,” and <a href="https://twitter.com/Sagebrush_Rebel/status/1093031500524617729" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="24" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">compared</a> the climate crisis to a “unicorn” because “neither exists.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">related:</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Trump’s Public Lands Chief Wrote For A Cult Extremist’s Magazine
U.S. Public Lands Chief Says His Positions On Climate, Immigrants Don’t Matter
Hatred For The Endangered Species Act Runs Deep At Trump’s Interior Department
Chris D’Angelo
Environment Reporter, HuffPost
Politics News Donald Trump Federal Lands William Perry Pendley Interior Department</span></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interior-department-officials-endangered-species-act_n_5d54627ae4b083855066faca"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interior-department-officials-endangered-species-act_n_5d54627ae4b083855066faca</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>For <span style="white-space: pre-wrap; box-sizing: inherit;">20 minutes, Wyoming lawyer William Perry Pendley railed against “environmental extremists” and boasted about the legal battles his right-wing nonprofit had waged on behalf of Western property owners. The tirade came at a September 2014 </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXToklCAPE" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="1" data-v9y="1" style="white-space: pre-wrap; box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">conference</span></a><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; box-sizing: inherit;"> of the conservative American Dream Coalition in Denver.</span></b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; box-sizing: inherit;">
</span></font></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="2" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmentalists primarily use three laws, including the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as tools to “drive people off the land” and into cities where they can be “controlled,” he said. At the time, Pendley was president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a Colorado-based nonprofit law firm that focuses on “protecting property rights” and advocates for selling off millions of federal acres in the West.</font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="3" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’ve gone from protecting the warm and fuzzies to protecting the cold and slimies,” he said. “It was supposed to apply only to federal land. Today, it applies to private property ― coast to coast, border to border ― which leads us here in the West to say what? ‘Shoot, shovel and shut up’ if you encounter one of those critters on your property.”</font></span></p></div><div class="teads-entry-placement js-teads-entry-placement" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teads-entrycontent" id="teads-entry-desktop" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="4" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He continued: “That, by the way, is not legal advice.”</font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="5" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>“Shoot, shovel and shut up” ― also known as the “3-S treatment</b>” ― is a strategy extreme property rights advocates have embraced for getting rid of unwanted, imperiled species on private land. Pendley has also written that the law underlying federal species protection is used “</span><a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/04/bundy-ranch-standoff-could-spark-new-sagebrush-rebellion-william-perry-pendley/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:5;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="2" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">to kill or prevent anybody from making a living on federal land</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">.”</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="6" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Late last month, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/william-perry-pendley-federal-land_n_5d427083e4b0acb57fc7324e" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:6;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="3" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">tapped Pendley to serve as acting director</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> of the Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the Interior Department that oversees 245 million acres of </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/topic/public-land" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:6;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="4" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">public land</span></a></span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, or more than one-third of the federal estate.</span> <b>This week, the Trump administration </b></span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-endangered-species-rule_n_5cf7b7b4e4b01713bed4df9b" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:6;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="5" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>finalized rules that significantly weaken</b></span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b> the Endangered Species Act. </b>Among other things, the changes will make it easier for government agencies to remove species from the protected list and limit their ability to account for the impacts of future climate change. The rollback comes on the heels of a United Nations report that found </span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biodiversity-report-ipbes-nature-crisis_n_5ccee4e1e4b0e4d757341215" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:6;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="6" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">up to 1 million species around the globe are at risk of extinction</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> due to human activities.</span></font></p></div><div class="pg-placeholder" id="public-good-placeholder" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><figure class="content-list-component image yr-content-list-image" data-rapid-subsec="entry-image" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 40px auto; max-width: 630px; min-width: initial; width: 630px; line-height: 0; text-align: center; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;">
<div class="imagemeta-wrapper js-image-meta-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4em; text-align: left; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="text-transform: uppercase;">[PIX</span></font>
<figcaption class="imagecaption" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 8px; line-height: 16px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interior deputy Susan Combs, pictured in 2010, spent decades as an official in Texas fighting conservation efforts alongside the state’s oil and gas industry.</font></figcaption></div></figure><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="7" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That the Interior Department took aim at the ESA comes as no surprise when one considers some of the people in high-ranking posts. Pendley is one of several agency officials who detest what is arguably America’s most important law for protecting imperiled plants and animals.</font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="8" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Susan Combs, a former Texas comptroller who was </span><a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/us-senate-confirms-susan-combs-assistant-secretary-department-interior-bipartisan" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="8" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">confirmed</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> in June as Interior’s assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, once equated proposed ESA listings to “</span><a href="http://www.mystatesman.com/news/how-texas-fights-endangered-species-protections-critter-critter/s4lEk5VfNgr4InfODrI4FK/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">incoming Scud missiles</span></a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>” headed for her state’s oil and gas-rich economy. </b>As a state lawmaker in the 1990s, she championed legislation </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">prohibiting state wildlife officials from gathering endangered species data</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> from private lands without permission, <a href="https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/1995-10-13/529912/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">according to The Austin Chronicle</a>. As Texas comptroller, she </span><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-environment-lizard-idUSBRE85C1M720120613" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="11" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">fought against the federal government’s proposal</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> to list the dune sagebrush lizard ― an effort that primarily benefited fossil fuel interests. And in 2015, Combs led three groups in a failed effort to </span><a href="http://lonestarsuccess.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Petition-to-delist-the-golden-cheeked-warbler-6-29-2015.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="12" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">petition</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> to have federal protections removed for the golden-cheeked warbler, an endangered songbird native to central Texas.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="9" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Karen Budd-Falen, Interior’s deputy solicitor for fish, wildlife and parks, has called the ESA “</span><a href="http://www.defendruralamerica.com/files/KBFtestimony20111206.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="13" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">a sword to tear down the American economy</span></a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">, drive up food, energy and housing costs and wear down and take out rural communities and counties.” As a private lawyer, she was involved in several ESA-related legal disputes, including representing parties accused of violating the law.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="10" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During a speech at a conservative summit in 2016, Budd-Falen asserted that she would “<a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/libertysummit2016/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">repeal the ESA in a heartbeat</a>,” contradicting comments she made during <a href="http://www.defendruralamerica.com/files/KBFtestimony20111206.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="15" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">congressional testimony</a> in 2011.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">[vid]</span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Budd-Falen was among several Interior officials who briefed reporters about the ESA overhaul on Monday.</span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="11" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">kathy Benedetto, a top adviser at Interior, </span><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1303496/afadailybulletn00906.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:12;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="21" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">said in 1995</span></a></b><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b> that the ESA “states that plants, animals and bugs are more important than human beings and that’s morally bankrupt,</b>” according to a </span><a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/1303496/afadailybulletn00906.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:12;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="22" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">daily newsletter</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> from the Alliance for America, a property rights group that was “dedicated to bringing human concerns into environmental decision-making.”</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="13" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Most species became extinct before man showed up,” Benedetto added. “The earth changes constantly.”</font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="14" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the time, Benedetto was an executive committee member at the Grassroots ESA Coalition, which was, as the Alliance for America described it, working to “throw out” the 1973 law.</font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="15" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><b>Then there’s Interior chief Bernhardt, a former fossil fuel lobbyist and lawyer who has been a key figure in the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda.</b> In 2008, while working as the department’s top lawyer during the Bush administration, Bernhardt </span><a href="https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article24504931.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:15;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="23" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">issued a legal memo</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> that concluded it’s impossible to prove planet-warming greenhouse gases are impacting imperiled species and instructed federal agencies not to consider climate change when making listing decisions. As an industry lawyer, he sued the federal government over its implementation of the act. And as an official in the Trump administration, he intervened to block a scientific report by the Fish and Wildlife Service about the threat certain pesticides pose to more than 1,000 endangered species, as an </span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/politics/endangered-species-david-bernhardt.html?module=inline" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:15;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="24" data-v9y="0" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">investigation by The New York Times</a> uncovered earlier this year.</span></font></p></div><figure class="content-list-component image yr-content-list-image" data-rapid-subsec="entry-image" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 40px auto; max-width: 630px; min-width: initial; width: 630px; line-height: 0; text-align: center; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px;"><div class="imagemeta-wrapper js-image-meta-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; max-width: 100%; line-height: 1.4em; text-align: left; border-bottom: 1px dotted rgb(204, 204, 204);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[
</font><figcaption class="image__caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 8px; line-height: 16px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The black-footed ferret was brought back from the brink of extinction by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captive breeding program. The species has been reintroduced in the wild, but is still listed under the Endangered Species Act.</font></figcaption></div></figure><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="16" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">Bernhardt and the agency have </span><a href="https://twitter.com/DOIPressSec/status/1161394614340923393" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:16;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="25" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">defended</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> the ESA rework, saying it will increase transparency and lift regulatory burdens without negatively impacting species recovery.</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="17" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">“We celebrate the</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> #EndangeredSpeciesAct</span><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> as the nation’s foremost conservation law w/ the ultimate goal of recovering the most imperiled species,” Interior’s press office wrote in </span><a href="https://twitter.com/DOIPressSec/status/1161394617138499587" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:17;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="26" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;">a post</span></a><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"> to Twitter. “We are updating ESA implementation to make it more clear, consistent & better address conservation challenges of the 21st century.”</span></font></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="18" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What’s clear, however, is that there are several people walking the halls of Interior’s headquarters in Washington who don’t share that sentiment and want to see sweeping revisions to the ESA. And that’s exactly what environmental groups say the American public is getting with the new rules, which alter how federal agencies implement portions of the law.</font></span></p></div><div class="content-list-component yr-content-list-text text" data-rapid-cpos="19" data-rapid-subsec="paragraph" data-rapid-parsed="subsec" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; width: 705px; max-width: 720px; min-width: initial;"><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap; line-height: 1.75rem;"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“You’ll hear from the administration that a lot of these changes are just kind of cleaning up and technical in nature,” Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of the conservation nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife and a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Bill Clinton, told reporters Monday. “But this package of regulations in no way will improve species conservation, they’ll do quite the opposite. They’ll seriously undermine the Endangered Species Act’s effectiveness in significant and important ways.”</font></span></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div>