Congressional recess is supposed to provide our nation’s representatives with time to meet with constituents, hold town halls, and tour the state listening to voters’ concerns. Yet Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) has been missing from these important meetings for over two years. With the end of this year’s recess quickly approaching, Coloradans have been left hanging by Sen. Gardner yet again, as anti-public lands extremist William Pendley guts the Bureau of Land Management and the crucial Land and Water Conservation Fund remains unfunded.
“While it’s unclear how Senator Gardner has exactly spent his summer Congressional recess, this much is crystal clear: he has yet to come out against Trump and Bernhardt’s newest anti-public lands swamp monster, William Pendley,” said Jayson O’Neill, Western Values Project Deputy Director. “Pendley is an outspoken advocate for taking public lands out of public hands. Colorado’s outdoor heritage is on the line while Gardner has been hiding. Maybe all that oil and gas money he’s raked in is the reason he can’t seem to make up his mind about what side of history he’ll be on.”
Concerns about Pendley, who joined the BLM as acting director in July, are widespread, from Congress and former top BLM officials to sports groups and tribes. He has spent nearly 30 years suing the federal government on behalf of oil, gas and coal corporations, and has openly called for the federal government to sell all Western public lands.
Pendley previously called for revoking monument designations and repealing the Antiquities Act and has repeatedly criticized former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke for not going far enough with his illegal monument reduction recommendations. Pendley called the recently gutted Endangered Species Act “the pit bull of environmental law,” claiming that it did not rely on “good science.”
Gardner’s silence on Pendley’s controversial record calls into question Gardner’s own record on public lands protections. While Gardner has claimed he supports the Land and Water Conservation Fund – a critical public lands and parks program – his support seems only to go as far as a talking point will take him. The legislation currently languishes without funding, jeopardizing public lands in Colorado and across the country.