In a policy blueprint titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” pro-Donald Trump conservatives outline their vision for managing America’s federal lands under a future Republican presidency. William Perry Pendley, who served as Trump’s acting director of the Bureau of Land Management, authored the Interior Department chapter of this sweeping document. Pendley’s dream is to turn over the more than 500 million acres of federal land managed by the Interior Department to extractive industries, advocating for states and private interests to play a greater role in managing public lands.
Despite broad bipartisan public support for protecting America’s public lands, the most recent Republican Party platform calls for transferring control of federal lands to the states. William Perry Pendley’s section in Project 2025, compiled by the Heritage Foundation and other right-wing organizations, reflects a shift in strategy from outright sale and transfer of federal lands to focusing on giving states more control in managing public lands. Pendley argues that states are better resource managers than the federal government and suggests broadening state-federal cooperative agreements.
Pendley writes in Project 2025 about an Interior Department that he claims has lost its way and grown beholden to “radical” environmentalists. He condemns the Biden administration’s stance on fossil fuels and calls for the restoration of Trump-era “energy dominance.” His blueprint for a future Republican administration includes robust oil and gas lease sales, boosting drilling in Alaska, slashing royalties paid by fossil fuel companies, expediting permits, and rescinding environmental safeguards.
Pendley’s policy directive for Project 2025 includes contributions from industry allies like Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, who authored the energy section. Other Trump-era Interior officials like Aurelia Giacometto, Casey Hammond, and Tara Sweeney also provided assistance. The Heritage Foundation, which led the compilation of Project 2025, did not respond to requests for comment. Pendley’s career spans five decades of advocating against the federal government and environmental protections, with ties to right-wing organizations and the fossil fuel industry.
Pendley’s anti-environment views have drawn criticism for comparing environmentalists to communists and Nazis and advocating for the sale of federal lands. His call in Project 2025 to limit presidents’ ability to protect federal lands and waters, review Biden-era resource management plans, and rescind the Antiquities Act, indicates a desire to roll back conservation efforts. The Trump administration, despite positioning itself as an opponent of selling or transferring federal lands, has proposed public land sell-offs, weakened protections, and shrunk national monuments.
Project 2025 puts special interests over everyday Americans, according to critics who point out the deep ties between the project’s advisory board members and the fossil fuel industry. The Koch network has funneled millions to these organizations. Pendley’s contribution to the project reflects his long history of advocating against federal control of lands and environmental protections, aligning with the Trump administration’s anti-environment stance. The policies outlined in Project 2025 signal a continued attack on public lands and conservation efforts if a future Republican administration were to implement them.
