BLM Deputy Director On Role With Agency, Energy, Wild Horses

Bureau Of Land Management [BLM] Deputy Director for Policy and Programs William Perry Pendley says interest in oil and gas leases on public lands in Wyoming seems to be increasing recently.

That could bode well for the Wyoming oil and gas industries, which have been in the doldrums for most of 2020 due to low energy prices.

Pendley made the comments during a Friday morning phone interview with Townsquare Media of Cheyenne

Pendley also calls any notion of doing with hydraulic fracturing...commonly called "fracking," "insane.''

''I read headlines that say, 'Oh, that's controversial. That's a controversial technology.' It's not controversial. It's old. It's as old as I am. We've been doing it since 1946,'' Pendley said.

Pendley also credits President Trump with helping the nation achieve energy independence by opening up lands in Wyoming and across the west to energy development.

Pendley, a Cheyenne native, was blocked by a Federal Judge in Montana last month from serving as acting director of the BLM. The judge said Pendley could not serve in that role because he had never been confirmed by Congress.

Pendley was nominated by the president to serve as head of the BLM in June. But that nomination was later withdrawn

He has continued as the Deputy Director for Policy and Programs, however. He is one of two agency deputy directors.

No one has been approved by Congress to lead the BLM during President Trump's administration, and the position of BLM Director remains open.

You can hear the entire interview with Pendley in which he discusses his role with the agency, fracking, wild horses, and several other topics in the audio below.