BLM should stop its pandering to oil industry

It is time we realize where the value of our public lands lies: not in the benefits they give to the fossil fuel industry, but in the benefits they give to the American people.

For over five years, I worked as an environmental protection specialist at the Bureau of Land Management in the Permian Basin oil field in New Mexico. BLM is a bureau within the Department of Interior, charged with overseeing 245 million acres of national public lands — nearly 12 percent of land in the United States.

From my experience, I know our public lands are places of beauty, rich in archaeological and cultural wonders, and home to endangered plants and wildlife. My job was to ensure fossil fuel companies followed the law, so that their projects did not unduly harm the land under BLM protection.

However, throughout my tenure, BLM put industry profits over the well-being of wildlife and other public land users. I witnessed companies cutting corners and building oil and gas pipelines cheaply and declining to replace aging infrastructure. Because these pipelines were such poor quality, leaks were commonplace. Toxic, cancer-causing chemicals would both seep into the ground and be sprayed into the air, capable of traveling hundreds of feet away from the site of the leak.

Oil companies experienced so few consequences for their leaking pipelines, that whether or not they chose to replace them was primarily a business decision, based on whatever was most profitable for the company. Decisions were not on what was best for the land, wildlife or the public — which are no less important mandates of BLM.

William Perry Pendley, former acting leader of BLM, was recently pushed out of his role by public outrage and a court ruling. He is an outspoken advocate for selling public lands to the fossil fuel industry. Before arriving at BLM, he was a lawyer who represented oil companies — the same companies he began helping in his job at the bureau. He called for selling “all BLM lands” east of the Mississippi and labeled the Endangered Species Act “a joke.”

Not only have the courts stated that Pendley has been unlawfully leading BLM, but the Trump administration withdrew its nomination of Pendley to direct the bureau. However, Pendley continues to work at BLM — unconfirmed by Congress.

This is completely unacceptable; it violates one check that Congress has on the executive branch. Someone unfit to be nominated and confirmed as bureau director was unfit to lead BLM.

Our public lands are more valuable than the fossil fuels they possess. They are places of natural beauty, exploration and wonder, and should be conserved for future generations — not sold off to the highest bidder. Our lands are a treasure for all. They should not be sacrificed for short-term gains that harm our environment and communities.

Under the next administration, BLM must manage the 245 million acres of our public lands entrusted to it in a way that benefits everyday Americans more than the bottom line of corporations.