Public lands chief hangs on despite nomination getting nixed

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A former oil industry attorney will continue calling the shots for a government agency that oversees nearly a quarter-billion public acres in the U.S. West, despite the White House saying over the weekend that President Donald Trump would withdraw the nomination of William Perry Pendley.

Pendley’s continued reign at the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management comes under an unusual arrangement that Pendley himself set up months ago, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.

In May, as a temporary authorization for him to lead the agency was about to expire, Pendley signed an order that made his own position, deputy director of policy and programs, the bureau’s default leadership post while the director’s slot is vacant, the document shows.

Details of the succession plan prompted Democrats on Tuesday to renew their calls for Pendley's removal.

“That's baloney. That's not how it works," Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, said of the May order in an interview. "You don’t want the deputy director of policy and programs being able to dictate who’s in charge of the (bureau.) It’s too important an agency...He needs to be removed.”

Pendley is a longtime industry attorney and property rights advocate from Wyoming. Prior to joining the Trump administration, he had called for the government to sell its public lands.

The bureau’s holdings are sweeping, with nearly 10 percent of all U.S. land under its dominion, mostly across the U.S. West.

A senior administration official said Saturday that Pendley’s name was being withdrawn as Trump’s nominee for unspecified reasons. It won’t be official until the Senate returns to session.

His nomination had set the stage for Senate confirmation hearings that were...