“The Interior Department is bypassing legal concerns over whether the acting directors of the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service are qualified to lead the agencies.Instead, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is authorizing William Perry Pendley and David Vela to perform the duties of acting directors of BLM and NPS, respectively, using the secretary’s “succession” of duties authority.
The moves appear to be aimed at avoiding allegations in a federal lawsuit filed last month by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the Western Watersheds Project that specifically challenged the legality of the Pendley and Vela appointments (Greenwire, May 11).”
