Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

The Bureau of Land Management has appointed William Perry Pendley, a right-wing lawyer and commentator, as its new second-in-command. On Twitter in recent months, Pendley has argued that climate science isn’t real, claimed that the “Endangered Species Act is a joke,” and asked, “How many have died and how many more will die because of diversity and race-based decision making?”

E&E News reported on July 15 that the Bureau of Land Management, which is under the Department of the Interior, appointed Pendley as the “deputy director of policy and programs. Pendley started today, a BLM spokesman confirmed. The deputy director of policy and programs is the bureau's second-highest-ranking political position, behind the director.” 

Pendley previously worked as the president of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a conservative nonprofit that has represented clients in cases against environmentalists and the federal government. He is also a right-wing pundit who has written for publications such as the Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, and FoxNews.com. He was also an active Twitter user through his account @Sagebrush_Rebel (he wrote last week that he is “taking a break” from the social network). 

On Twitter, Pendley repeatedly attacked diversity initiatives in the United States. In response to former Minneapolis, MN, police officer Mohamed Noor's killing of unarmed 911 caller Justine Damond, Pendley wrote: “How many have died and how many more will die because of diversity and race-based decision making?” He told Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to get over busing because he “was bused to five different elementary schools” as a child. And discussing his future agency, Pendley wrote that he was “impressed” that President Donald Trump “picked a tried, true, and experienced expert from the West” -- Interior Secretary David Bernhardt -- instead of listening to advisers who “pressed for ‘diversity’ at the top position.” (There is very little diversity in the senior positions of the Trump administration.)

Pendley also frequently attacked environmentalists and climate science, writing that climate science “is political science or junk science, not real science, and it is, as with real science, far from settled”; “#ClimateChangeIsReal NOT!”; and the “Endangered Species Act is a joke.” 

Here are some of the worst tweets from his account: 

How many have died and how many more will die because of diversity and race-based decision making? https://t.co/ax3057nxCt

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) April 26, 2019

I'm impressed that, as @realDonaldTrump advisers pressed for “diversity” at the top position @Interior he picked a tried, true, and experienced expert from the West, @DOIDepSec. https://t.co/7YYx3k5kKi

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) February 24, 2019

Oh, the Minnesota teens or youths, if you prefer. Never Somali. https://t.co/pE8QdAKDcl

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) May 26, 2019

(Pendley was responding to a Townhall commentary piece about supposed “media silence in Minneapolis over an attack executed by a group of Somali teens.” However, Snopes.com debunked that Townhall report, writing: “According to University of Minnesota police, the incident did not involve a physical attack, did not cause any injuries, and was not racially motivated.”) 

There was a little boy in Cheyenne, Wyoming who was bused to five different elementary schools. That little boy was me. I got over it @KamalaHarris you should too. pic.twitter.com/1KmjlVYBYy

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) June 29, 2019

Get the point. Like so much that comes out of her mouth that is not anti-American or anti-semitic, this is stupid. https://t.co/kTeinE3nYS

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) June 9, 2019

69 degrees and sunny today. Sky is falling tomorrow. #ClimateChangeIsReal NOT! https://t.co/Wk8KTSbgr0

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) April 9, 2019

News flash: it is political science or junk science, not real science, and it is, as with real science, far from settled! Trump Administration Hardens Its Attack on Climate Science https://t.co/1ObqerntK4

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) May 28, 2019

About time. So-called environmental groups have become rich on these payoffs! .@Interior will develop a webpage to publicly list details of legal settlements and cases. https://t.co/CGqVxWukxc via @MikeBastasch @DailySignal

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) May 17, 2019

There was no mention of unicorns either because neither exists. https://t.co/ZjtPjpaaKy

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) February 6, 2019

Endangered Species Act is a joke. Westerners know it is used by bureaucrats, their lawyers, and rich environmental groups to seize private land and stop economic activity. As Grizzlies Come Back, Frustration Builds Over Continued Protections https://t.co/Vl9nBKXT67

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) February 4, 2019

It is not just on climate change. The worst offender, as the indispensable Dr. Rob Roy Ramey has pointed out, is the “endangered species cartel” that runs the #EndangeredSpeciesAct. Bureaucrats, left-wing nonprofit groups, and highly paid “scientists” make up the cartel. https://t.co/U0vWhVQVdJ

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) December 7, 2018

As a lawyer, the Secretary is spot on regarding what the law provides. Interior Secretary Won’t Stop Oil And Gas Development Because Of Climate Change Concerns https://t.co/1golxc8e2R

— Wm Perry Pendley (@Sagebrush_Rebel) May 9, 2019