Tag: Trump Bureau of Land Management

Disgraced Reagan Appointee Is Back At Federal Land Bureau

William Perry Pendley, the attorney now running the Bureau of Land Management, oversees federal coal leases despite pushing for a fire sale of coal leases more than three decades ago that led to a federal probe in which he was referred for possible criminal prosecution.

Pendley and another Interior appointee ate an infamous $494 dinner – the equivalent of $1,343 today – at a Washington, D.C., restaurant in March 1982 with their wives and two coal industry attorneys on the same day that they helped change the bidding system for the coal leases. One of the bidders for the coal leases paid for the dinner.

Twelve U.S. senators want to end Pendley’s job as acting director, citing his work to expand oil and gas development on public land and support for selling off public land.

View the complete October 9 article by Sarah Okeson fromn DC Report on the National Memo website here.

Trump Administration Targets Obama-Era Effort to Limit Methane

The following article by Lisa Friedman was posted on the New York Times website February 12, 2018:

An Obama-era rule would have limited the flaring of natural gas, as seen here at an oil well near Watford City, ND Credit: Andrew Cullen/Reuters

The Trump administration on Monday moved to repeal one of the last unchallenged climate-change regulations rushed into place in the waning days of the Obama presidency — a rule restricting the release of planet-warming methane into the atmosphere.

The rule, which applied to companies drilling for energy on federal land, has been the subject of intense court battles and delay efforts, as well as one surprise vote last year in which Senate Republicans temporarily saved it from being torpedoed.

Methane, which is about 25 times more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, accounts for 9 percent of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions; about a third of that is estimated to come from oil and gas operations. Under the rule, oil and gas companies would have been required to capture leaked methane, update their equipment and write new plans for minimizing waste when drilling on government property. Continue reading “Trump Administration Targets Obama-Era Effort to Limit Methane”