combs, susan

OMG ESAhuffpo tag<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/topic/william-perry-pendley">https://www.huffpost.com/topic/william-perry-pendley</a>what fresh hell under radar 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. [<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);">Huffpo</a>]
<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-william-perry-pendley-bureau-land-management_n_5e02645de4b0843d3601dd79">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-william-perry-pendley-bureau-land-management_n_5e02645de4b0843d3601dd79</a><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;">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. </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;">Pendley was <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;">tapped last July</a> 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 <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;">public land</a> — more than 10% of the entire U.S. landmass — and 700 million subsurface mineral acres. It also enraged environmentalists and <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;">sparked fears of a public lands sell-off</a>. </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;">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.”</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;">The Trump administration has <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;">vowed</a> not to dispose of public lands. Yet it has cozied up to members of the pro-land transfer movement and <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;">tapped</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;"> several</a> opponents of federal land policy for high-ranking department positions. Pendley has <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;">dismissed</a> concerns about his stance on federal lands and said his personal views and past statements ― including some that described climate science as “<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;">junk science</a>” and comparing immigrants to a “<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;">cancer</a>” ― are “irrelevant” to leading a bureau.  </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;">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.”</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);">[
<figcaption class="image__caption" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 8px; line-height: 16px;">In this photo from Oct. 11, 2019, William Perry Pendley speaks at a conference for journalists in Fort Collins, Colorado.]</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;">Pendley also has ties to Lyndon LaRouche, the late cult leader, convicted fraudster and paranoid conspiracy theorist, as HuffPost first <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;">reported</a>. Pendley published anti-environmental pieces in 21st Century Science & Technology, 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."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 were “yet another clear sign he should not be in charge of the BLM” and should step down. </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;">“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.</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;">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.</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;">“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.”</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;">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. 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. </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;">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>.” </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;">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.”related: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</div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interior-department-officials-endangered-species-act_n_5d54627ae4b083855066faca">https://www.huffpost.com/entry/interior-department-officials-endangered-species-act_n_5d54627ae4b083855066faca</a></div><div>
</div><div>For 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 <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;">conference</a> of the conservative American Dream Coalition in Denver.</div><div>
</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;">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.</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;">“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.”</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;">He continued: “That, by the way, is not legal advice.”</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;">“Shoot, shovel and shut up” ― also known as the “3-S treatment” ― 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 “<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;">to kill or prevent anybody from making a living on federal land</a>.”</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;">Late last month, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt <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;">tapped Pendley to serve as acting director</a> of the Bureau of Land Management, an agency of the Interior Department that oversees 245 million acres of <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;">public land</a>, or more than one-third of the federal estate. This week, the Trump administration <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;">finalized rules that significantly weaken</a> the Endangered Species Act. 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 <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;">up to 1 million species around the globe are at risk of extinction</a> due to human activities.</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);">[PIX
<figcaption class="imagecaption" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 8px; line-height: 16px;">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.</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;">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.</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;">Susan Combs, a former Texas comptroller who was <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;">confirmed</a> in June as Interior’s assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, once equated proposed ESA listings to “<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;">incoming Scud missiles</a>” headed for her state’s oil and gas-rich economy. As a state lawmaker in the 1990s, she championed legislation prohibiting state wildlife officials from gathering endangered species data 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 <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;">fought against the federal government’s proposal</a> 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 <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;">petition</a> to have federal protections removed for the golden-cheeked warbler, an endangered songbird native to central Texas.</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;">Karen Budd-Falen, Interior’s deputy solicitor for fish, wildlife and parks, has called the ESA “<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;">a sword to tear down the American economy</a>, 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.</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;">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.[vid]Budd-Falen was among several Interior officials who briefed reporters about the ESA overhaul on Monday.</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;">kathy Benedetto, a top adviser at Interior, <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;">said in 1995</a> that the ESA “states that plants, animals and bugs are more important than human beings and that’s morally bankrupt,” according to a <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;">daily newsletter</a> from the Alliance for America, a property rights group that was “dedicated to bringing human concerns into environmental decision-making.”</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;">“Most species became extinct before man showed up,” Benedetto added. “The earth changes constantly.”</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;">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.</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;">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. In 2008, while working as the department’s top lawyer during the Bush administration, Bernhardt <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;">issued a legal memo</a> 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 <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.</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);">[
<figcaption class="imagecaption" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 8px; line-height: 16px;">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.</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;">Bernhardt and the agency have <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;">defended</a> the ESA rework, saying it will increase transparency and lift regulatory burdens without negatively impacting species recovery.</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;">“We celebrate the #EndangeredSpeciesAct as the nation’s foremost conservation law w/ the ultimate goal of recovering the most imperiled species,” Interior’s press office wrote in <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;">a post</a> to Twitter. “We are updating ESA implementation to make it more clear, consistent & better address conservation challenges of the 21st century.”</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;">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.</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;">“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.”</div><div>=</div></div></div>=<h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1.16em; margin: 1em 0px 0.625em;">retro report 3: a foe of the Endangered Species Act now leads the agency that oversees it</h2><ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;">On June 5, the Senate confirmed Susan Combs as the Department of Interior’s assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOwyAM_JpySwQhzePAoatVfiMi4KaoASIwG-Xv100ly2NsYc-M0QhrTKfaY0ZWMqTZWdX0HR9HzqxqrRjuA3N5fiYAr92mMBVge1k2ZzS6GK4PXAzspTrQsn-OsgW-LE0run6BUd_52Jqm48ayz5VZF-sgGFDwB-mMAdimXoh7vsnHrZkojuOoXybUMa30cjkXyFTcRS0E4UakM1YuICQXU2WiXzTqgFSFp0sebIWxsrDrhB4CMvdhOPKeN4SUalE_JjGISQ78t2vb_qe_tdyvTZ3LklGbd01LWVK7Rm_eQtJ0_ai_2iR-JvQlODxnCHrZwH59wa-Rl048d1ABjrwBEtNvk8wauJSS0SEbaWVQFhKsZbvMDFf-B4hNiok" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOwyAM_JpySwQhzePAoatVfiMi4KaoASIwG-Xv100ly2NsYc-M0QhrTKfaY0ZWMqTZWdX0HR9HzqxqrRjuA3N5fiYAr92mMBVge1k2ZzS6GK4PXAzspTrQsn-OsgW-LE0run6BUd_52Jqm48ayz5VZF-sgGFDwB-mMAdimXoh7vsnHrZkojuOoXybUMa30cjkXyFTcRS0E4UakM1YuICQXU2WiXzTqgFSFp0sebIWxsrDrhB4CMvdhOPKeN4SUalE_JjGISQ78t2vb_qe_tdyvTZ3LklGbd01LWVK7Rm_eQtJ0_ai_2iR-JvQlODxnCHrZwH59wa-Rl048d1ABjrwBEtNvk8wauJSS0SEbaWVQFhKsZbvMDFf-B4hNiok&source=gmail&ust=1562185787717000&usg=AFQjCNFPD6xDLtPKkTI-HHudLcl2L0IWGA" style="">reports High Country News</a>.</li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;">During Combs’ two years as acting assistant secretary for policy etc., the Trump administration has proposed to weaken Endangered Species Act protections for plant and animal species at risk of extinction, as well as the habitat these species need to survive.</li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxNkE1uxCAMhU8z7BJBfsmCxVTVXCMi4GRQCSAwjXL7ksymErLhYezHpyTC5uMpgk9IcoI4Gy2acaDTRIkWnWa858SkeY0AuzRWYMxAQl6sURKNd_cDyjh5CzYqPnA19rLt-3WQ67pOrBmWjstBMzmRa8osszbgFAj4hXh6B8SKN2JIj_b5aF5lHcdRR2-tcVvCUlArvxc5eGvQqPRvWzk4rnMxtYfKOIRofKw0BBlxB4dVykm6qjRYUjWOE-7Uk7MZXmiI21KLqFm9fPFOHu1nH4PXTd-jY-O7ltTp7wklOrn8kCiCBJ39cPacrtdOG650JhL3rMzeM7g5GJBf0Dhh-z9cTwDiMuwBSxGP2Khx2nbtqQM0r60dEJDhC3bm6674x8MspEe" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxNkE1uxCAMhU8z7BJBfsmCxVTVXCMi4GRQCSAwjXL7ksymErLhYezHpyTC5uMpgk9IcoI4Gy2acaDTRIkWnWa858SkeY0AuzRWYMxAQl6sURKNd_cDyjh5CzYqPnA19rLt-3WQ67pOrBmWjstBMzmRa8osszbgFAj4hXh6B8SKN2JIj_b5aF5lHcdRR2-tcVvCUlArvxc5eGvQqPRvWzk4rnMxtYfKOIRofKw0BBlxB4dVykm6qjRYUjWOE-7Uk7MZXmiI21KLqFm9fPFOHu1nH4PXTd-jY-O7ltTp7wklOrn8kCiCBJ39cPacrtdOG650JhL3rMzeM7g5GJBf0Dhh-z9cTwDiMuwBSxGP2Khx2nbtqQM0r60dEJDhC3bm6674x8MspEe&source=gmail&ust=1562185787717000&usg=AFQjCNEnkwEI2htNn8RCsoDEOEU6kSYJUw" style="">According to a deep dive into Combs’ professional bona fides by  Rolling Stone and anti-corruption group Global Witness</a>, Combs has continued to propel an industry-friendly re-organization of Interior begun under former, ethically-challenged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. But Combs has some conflicts of interest of her own:</li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;">“Combs earned possibly as much as $2.1 million in recent years from oil companies who stand to benefit from the reorganization,” Rolling Stone reports.</li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;">“During her years in Texas politics, Combs received at least $970,000 in campaign funds from the oil and gas sector, according to the National Institute on Money in Politics,” according to Rolling Stone. “From 2016 to mid-2017, Combs indicated she earned between $271,006 and $2,167,500 in rent and royalty payments from leases issued to six oil and gas companies for mineral rights to her land in south Texas.”</li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;">“Five of the six oil companies that have paid Combs royalties are listed as members of lobbying groups that explicitly endorsed the Interior reorganization she’s in charge of.”</li></ul><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/no-species-is-safe-from-trumps-interior-department-appointee-susan-combs/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/no-species-is-safe-from-trumps-interior-department-appointee-susan-combs/</a>Trump appointee <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/04/a-fierce-opponent-of-the-endangered-species-act-is-picked-to-oversee-interiors-wildlife-policy/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Susan Combs</a> who was <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/oil-gas-and-mining/susan-combs-doi-conflicts-of-interest/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">paid up to almost $2.2 million by oil companies</a> and who <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/22/texas-propose-new-plan-protect-threatened-lizard/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">blocked</a> federal protection for a <a href="https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/newmexico/documents/dunes_sagebrush_lizards_handout.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tiny Texas lizard</a> on oil fields, now wants to restructure our nation’s Interior Department to <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=9665BE81-2840-4C49-B18B-4848E1B4B04F" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">“result in improved permitting.”</a><div class="p1_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="attachment_13018" class="wp-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; max-width: 100%; text-align: center; position: relative; overflow: hidden;"><p class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 11px 10px; line-height: 1.4; font-style: italic; position: absolute; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 629.984px; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); transition: all 0.4s ease 0s;">Former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs is awaiting confirmation as assistant secretary for policy, management and budget in the Interior Department. Photo by Laura Skelding for The Texas </div>Combs, the acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, told the <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources</a> that she wants to consolidate administration of the<a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Endangered Species Act</a> and the <a href="https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/what-we-do/rescue/marine-mammal-protection-act.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Marine Mammal Protection Act.</a><div class="p3_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“As long as her<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/susan-combs-03-30-2018.php" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> industry pals make a profit,</a> she won’t think twice about letting a species go extinct,” said Stephanie Kurose of the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Center for Biological Diversity.</a><div class="p4_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Combs, Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/nominations-sent-senate/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">nominee</a> to be assistant secretary of the Interior, is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-christie/grifters-weaklings-felons-christie-on-the-trump-white-house-idUSKCN1PB02L" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">just one of the grifters</a> in the Trump administration.<div class="p5_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross spent much of his first year in office as a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/08/06/new-details-about-wilbur-rosss-businesses-point-to-pattern-of-grifting/#4d9edff81c33" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">business partner with the Chinese government</a> even as he negotiated U.S.-China trade relations. Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke started a foundation that <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/19/ryan-zinke-halliburton-park-whitefish-montana-647731" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">helped</a> a developer backed by the chairman of <a href="https://www.halliburton.com/en-US/default.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Halliburton,</a> the oil -services firm that could benefit from Interior decisions.<div class="p6_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4387988-Susan-Combs-Financial-Disclosure.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Federal disclosure documents</a> show that from 2016 to 2017 Combs received:<div class="p7_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Up to $50,000 in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=3737527" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Chesapeake Operating LLC</a> for an oil and gas lease in La Salle County in Texas.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Up to $15,000 in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.carrizo.com/home/default.aspx" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Carrizo Oil & Gas</a> for an oil and gas lease in McMullen County in Texas.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Up to $1 million in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.murphyoilcorp.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Murphy Oil Corp.</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County in Texas.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Up to $1 million in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.conocophillips.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">ConocoPhillips</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Up to $100,000 in rent or royalties from<a href="https://www.marathonoil.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> Marathon Oil</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;">Up to $2,500 in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.phillips66.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Phillips 66</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County.</li></ul>Combs, then the Texas comptroller, worked with the oil industry to set up a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/22/texas-propose-new-plan-protect-threatened-lizard/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">voluntary program</a> in 2012 to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard. Under Combs, Texas kept agreements with landowners to protect lizard habitat <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/dunes-sagebrush-lizard-05-08-2018.php" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">confidential.</a> Even the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t know where or how much land is being protected.<div class="p8_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Environmentalists say those efforts haven’t been enough and have <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/dunes_sagebrush_lizard/pdfs/DSL-petition.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">asked</a> the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the lizards under the Endangered Species Act.<a href="https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack">https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack</a>kitty bock HSUSA...Now, a new action by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency puts at further peril endangered and threatened animals in the United States.The FWS has issued a memorandum prohibiting agency staff from even telling developers when they are required to file for a permit before they begin development projects on properties that could degrade the habitats of endangered and threatened species. According to the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/interior-warns-staffers-to-keep-mum-about-mandatory-endangered-species-protections_us_5aecee82e4b0ab5c3d65b4f7" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Huffington Post</a>, the memo, issued last month by the agency's principal deputy director Greg Sheehan, says it's "not appropriate" for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit—even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.The situation is pretty simple to understand: the survival of wildlife depends on biologically healthy and intact ecosystems and habitats, and our government should be giving the benefit of the doubt to imperiled species, not to commercial interests. Notification of the requirement to secure a permit is not onerous red tape; it’s a sign of a functional and effective government.I have written before about Sheehan, who is closely associated with <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2015/09/report-exposes-safari-club-international-trophy-madness.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Safari Club International</a>, a membership club for American trophy hunters. In March, Sheehan greenlighted the lifting of existing bans on the import of elephant and lion trophies from certain African countries and signaled that FWS will approve such imports on a case-by-case basis—a decision that the Humane Society of the United States is challenging in federal court.Last year the FWS prematurely and unlawfully <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2018/04/alert-help-us-stop-wyoming-idaho-opening-trophy-hunts-yellowstone-grizzlies.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">removed ESA protections for grizzly bears</a> in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, leading states in the region to move to open up a trophy hunting season for these great bears.Pandering to commercial interests and reducing transparency has become an alarming tendency for this administration, especially at the Department of the Interior. These furtive and reckless actions put at risk the beautiful wildlife that we all, as Americans, enjoy, cherish and wish to protect. We’ve got to stand up for wildlife, by standing strong against misguided moves by federal agencies charged with the protection of wild animal species.The FWS has also established an "advisory board" stocked with trophy hunters, giving them a platform to destroy any and all barriers to international trophy hunting and the import of trophy heads and parts by U.S. citizens.The Trump administration has repeatedly returned to Texas to find nominees who’ve been exceptionally friendly to business interests. Last year, Trump <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/texan-kathleen-hartnett-white-too-extreme-for-trump-administration/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">nominated</a> Kathleen Hartnett White, an aggressively pro-industry former chair of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to lead the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality. (Her nomination was ultimately pulled after it became clear she wouldn’t be confirmed). The administration also tapped former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs, a <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/endangered-science/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">critic</a> of the Endangered Species Act, for a <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-taps-texan-susan-combs-fierce-critic-of-endangered-species-act/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">top position</a> at the U.S. Department of the Interior. Trey Trainor, a Texas attorney who tried to shred the state’s already-weak ethics laws, was <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-trey-trainor-fec-nominee/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">nominated last year</a> to a post on the Federal Election Commission. In April, Trump <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/trump-nominates-austin-attorney-who-stymied-investigation-into-trump-university/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">nominated</a> to the federal bench a former deputy attorney general who stymied the Texas investigation into Trump University.<div>https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/interior-warns-staffers-to-keep-mum-about-mandatory-endangered-species-protections_us_5aecee82e4b0ab5c3d65b4f7
<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;">New guidelines issued by the U.S. Department of the Interior now prohibit staff members from informing private interests when they must obtain a permit before they can develop properties where activities may affect habitats of endangered species.</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;">A <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/esa-library/pdf/Guidance-on-When-to-Seek-an-Incidental-Take-Permit.pdf" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:2;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="1" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">memorandum issued last month</a> by the Fish and Wildlife Service principal deputy director, Greg Sheehan, declared that it’s “not appropriate” for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit — even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.</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;">Under a section of the 1973 <a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:3;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;">Endangered Species Act</a>, businesses and individuals must request what’s called an “incidental take permit” if they believe their developments could interfere with the habitats of endangered species.</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;">Sheehan insists in his memo that it’s the “decision of the applicant” whether or not to apply for such a permit. Staff members should not use “mandatory language (e.g., a permit is ‘required’),” the memo warns.</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;">“The biological, legal, and economic risk assessment regarding whether to seek a permit belongs with the private party determining how to proceed,” Sheehan said.</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;">Staffers will still be able to provide “critical technical assistance” when it’s requested, according to the memo.</div><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;">The memo also appears to sharply limit situations where such permits may be required. That includes only cases “where a non-federal project is likely to result in a ‘take’ of a listed species of fish or wildlife ... habitat modification, in and of itself, does not necessarily constitute take,” according to the memo. That would seem to imply such a decision would rely on the judgment of a private interest with a commercial business at stake.  </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;">Sheehan was the official who announced to trophy hunting lobby group Safari Club International in Tanzania last year that the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/trump-administration/" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;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;">Trump administration</a> was <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-lift-ban-elephant-trophies_us_5a0cb765e4b0c0b2f2f78878" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;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;">lifting an Obama-era ban on elephant trophies</a> from two African nations, Zimbabwe and Zambia.  <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/topic/donald-trump" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;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;">Donald Trump</a> later held off on the action, but the ban was officially lifted again on a <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-administration-elephant-trophies_us_5a9e218ee4b0a0ba4ad7376b" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:8;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="7" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">“case-by-case basis”</a> in March.</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;">He’s considered among the Interior officials “behind the curtain who are really, really changing our public lands and setting a future direction that may or <a href="http://therevelator.org/zinke-aides-under-radar/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;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;">may not be consistent with what the law requires</a>,” <a href="http://environment.yale.edu/profile/lyons" target="blank" rel="noopener" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:9;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="9" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Jim Lyons</a>, a research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, told The Revelator.</div><div id="inline-newsletter_placeholder" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><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;">Environmental advocates have criticized Sheehan’s newest edict as a way to weaken regulations with the kind of single-handed action that has been a hallmark of the Trump administration. Noah Greenwald of the environmental nonprofit <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="10" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> told The Hill that he believes it will be harder to enforce requirements protecting habitats of endangered species because there will <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/386278-interior-guidance-disallows-employees-from-telling-builders-they" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:10;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="11" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">no longer be a record of permit recommendations</a>.</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;">The memo is the latest erosion of wildlife protections by the Trump administration. </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;">The administration is also battling blanket safeguards when a species is declared threatened. Under the Endangered Species Act, once a species is listed as threatened, a series of protections <a href="https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/factsheets/ESA%20SpecialRules%20Factsheet_020714.pdf" target="blank" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:12;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-rapid_p="12" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">automatically go into effect</a>. Under a proposed new rule, specific protections would be decided on a case by case basis.</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;">An <a href="https://www.fws.gov/midwest/wolf/esastatus/e-vs-t.htm" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" 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;">endangered species</a> is at risk of extinction, while a threatened species is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. <a href="https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/reports/ad-hoc-species-report?kingdom=V&kingdom=I&status=E&status=T&status=EmE&status=EmT&status=EXPE&status=EXPN&status=SAE&status=SAT&mapstatus=3&fcrithab=on&fstatus=on&fspecrule=on&finvpop=on&fgroup=on&header=Listed+Animals" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:13;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="14" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">Threatened species</a> include such animals as manatees, sea otters, the Guadalupe fur seal, wood bison, the gray wolf, the grizzly, the polar bear and the northern spotted owl. There are more than 300 threatened animal and plant species in the U.S. More than 500 animal species are endangered in the U.S.</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;">Last month, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke tapped Susan Combs — a rancher and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/04/a-fierce-opponent-of-the-endangered-species-act-is-picked-to-oversee-interiors-wildlife-policy/?twitter_impression=true&utm_term=.3747be3d08d4" target="blank" data-beacon-parsed="true" data-rapid-parsed="slk" data-ylk="subsec:paragraph;cpos:14;elm:context_link;itc:0" data-rapid_p="15" data-v9y="1" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgb(13, 190, 152) 0px -2px 0px inset;">fierce opponent of the Endangered Species Act</a> with strong ties to the oil industry — to serve as acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. </div></div>ref
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/04/a-fierce-opponent-of-the-endangered-species-act-is-picked-to-oversee-interiors-wildlife-policyno lnxEnergy and EnvironmentA fierce opponent of the Endangered Species Act is picked to oversee Interior’s wildlife policyBy Darryl FearsApril 4
Susan Combs leaves a meeting with then President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 30, 2016, at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said the Republican chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), played a role in delaying Susan Combs’ nomination to become assistant secretary for policy, management and budget for the Interior Department. This report has been updated.
Susan Combs, a former Texas state official who compared proposed endangered species listings to “incoming Scud missiles” and continued to fight the Endangered Species Act after she left government, now has a role in overseeing federal wildlife policy.
Combs was selected by Interior Department Secretary Ryan Zinke as acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. Zinke made the move after his bid to make her an assistant secretary for policy, management and budget stalled in the Senate. The nomination has been on hold since July because of opposition from Republicans and Democrats for various reasons.
At first, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee said, too many committee members weren’t available. Later, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) held up the nomination over concerns about the administration’s bid to drill for oil off Atlantic and Pacific coast states including Florida, even after Zinke’s assurance to the state’s governor that drilling would not happen there.Nelson vowed to keep the holds in place until Zinke rescinds the …five-year drilling plan… and “replaces it with a new draft plan that preserves the current moratorium in the eastern Gulf of Mexico beyond 2022 and fully protects all of Florida’s coasts from the threat of both offshore drilling and seismic testing,” according to a statement sent by his office.
Seemingly in retaliation, Zinke made the new appointment, first reported by the Austin American-Statesman last week.
 Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke speaking last month at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.  (Andrew Harnik/AP)“Of course we would rather have Susan Combs confirmed and in her intended position as assistant secretary for policy, management and budge?t,” Interior spokeswoman Heather Swift said in an emailed statement Tuesday.“Until then, she will serve in an acting capacity,” Swift said. She described Combs as “highly qualified” and said Interior officials “are more than confident that she will be an effective manager at Fish and Wildlife and Parks while she patiently awaits her Senate confirmation.”Zinke has teamed with lawmakers in the House in a bid to strip the Endangered Species Act of much of its power. Several bills would remove the act’s provisions to save species from extinction regardless of the economic impact, rely on peer-reviewed scientific data and reward conservation organizations that successfully sue to protect animals by paying their court costs.
Combs is a rancher and former Texas comptroller with strong ties to the oil industry whose politics align with efforts to weaken the law. As comptroller, she fought the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service repeatedly over its attempts to enforce the Endangered Species Act in the state. In a 2015 report, the Austin American-Statesman showed how Combs worked to remove endangered protections for a native state songbird, the golden-cheeked warbler, claiming that its listing hurt military readiness.
Following a successful bid to keep a tiny lizard off the endangered list in 2012, Combs hailed the decision as a victory for state jobs and the national energy economy.
A year later, in an appearance before the legislature, Combs made the “incoming Scud missiles” remark, the newspaper reported. It uncovered records showing that she disagreed with “nearly every listing proposal from Washington,” questioning the science, estimates of their economic impact and the amount of resident input.<a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/revealed-the-corporations-and-billionaires-that-fund-the-texas-public-policy-foundation/">https://www.texasobserver.org/revealed-the-corporations-and-billionaires-that-fund-the-texas-public-policy-foundation/</a>
bsCombs is a common sense, no-nonsense public servant who changed the face of government while assuring that free enterprise thrives. As a business leader, Combs has managed her cattle ranching operation for more than 30 years on land in the Big Bend area of Texas that has been in her family since 1882.While some may talk loudly, Combs actually gets things done. This problem is common to any level of government, as well as to the business community. Combs chooses to lead using her intellect and determination to solve problems and to forge the way forward.Combs has been featured in TIME magazine, Fox News, Bloomberg, Bond Buyer, the Wall Street Journal Online, the Washington Post and other state and national media outlets. Additionally, she has contributed to the Wall Street Journal, Washington Times, USA Today, TownHall, Houston Chronicle, Austin American-Statesman and Investors Business Daily.As a speaker Susan Combs talks about the challenges of being a woman in a leadership role, but that’s not her only specialty. For her work in helping combat childhood obesity, she was featured in the HBO multi-part series, The Weight of the Nation, as well as numerous newspapers and TV programs. Combs also talks on best practices and knows how to bring out peak performance in both business and government. After all, this is a person who issued over 50 policy reports on government efficiency, natural resources, state spending and debt, the effects of obesity costs for business, public and higher education, water and other pertinent topics. She also draws upon her experiences as a business owner, drawing parallels between her audiences’ challenges and those she’s faced as a Texas rancher.Combs is direct, and wins high marks for her ability to get to the heart of the matter at hand. A former state representative and Texas’ first female Agriculture Commissioner, she is also known for her work as former Texas State Comptroller where she streamlined tax processes, which shortened refund time by 78% and decreased response time to taxpayer inquiries by two-thirds.Combs also recaptured nearly $600 million in unremitted-but owed sales tax and transformed internal processes – thereby saving over $12 million, and cutting nearly $400 million in government purchasing through strategic sourcing and streamlined purchasing during her total time in office. She was Texas’ chief tax administrator and served as the purchasing officer for 221 state agencies and over 1,700 local entities.Now that her time as Comptroller has come to an end, Combs is currently working with Lone Star Success, an online effort dedicated to showcasing the social and economic strengths of the state of Texas. As a speaker, she brings her knowledge and experience in business and politics to the people. She made state government work smarter—and she can help you do the same for your business or organization.Most recently, Susan has authored an inspiring book titled, Texas Tenacity: A Call for Women to Direct their Destiny, where she speaks on her life experiences that directed her future and motivated her steadfast determination to succeed. Texas Tenacity is a reflection of Combs’ tenacity by highlighting her ability to overcome obstacles and use her personal strength to push forward in her career.==<table id="dirty-deputies-table" class="display responsive dataTable no-footer dtr-inline" role="grid" style="padding: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border: thin solid grey; border-collapse: collapse; box-sizing: border-box; border-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); table-layout: initial; clear: both; width: 1240px; margin-top: 6px !important; margin-bottom: 6px !important; max-width: none !important;"><tbody style="box-sizing: border-box;"><tr role="row" class="odd" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box;"><td tabindex="0" style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 81.625px;">Susan</td><td class="sorting_1" style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 89.625px;">Combs</td><td style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 192.625px;"><a href="http://www.mystatesman.com/news/national-govt--politics/combs-set-join-interior-department-agency-she-often-battled/oFe8HLO3ioTrwAiOVjnyeM/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Department of the Interior</a></td><td style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 137.625px;"><a href="http://www.mystatesman.com/news/national-govt--politics/combs-set-join-interior-department-agency-she-often-battled/oFe8HLO3ioTrwAiOVjnyeM/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Assistant Secretary of Interior Nominee</a></td><td style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 156.625px;"><a href="http://www.susancombs.com/about-susan/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Former Texas State Comptroller; Texas Public Policy Foundation</a></td><td style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 137.625px;"><a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/revealed-the-corporations-and-billionaires-that-fund-the-texas-public-policy-foundation/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">The Texas Public Policy Foundation is a Koch-funded organization; it is also funded by Exxon</a></td><td style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 137.625px;"><a href="http://www.mystatesman.com/news/national-govt--politics/combs-set-join-interior-department-agency-she-often-battled/oFe8HLO3ioTrwAiOVjnyeM/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent;">Reported to be an active opponent of the Endangered Species Act; reportedly used 'used her budget to finance studes on species that some academics criticized as politically skewed'</a></td><td data-search="Koch; oil and gas; Exxon; fossil fuel; nomineedata-order=" style="padding: 0.5rem; margin: 0px; border: thin solid grey; box-sizing: content-box; vertical-align: bottom; width: 173.625px;">Koch; oil and gas; Exxon; fossil fuel; nominee</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>