Grand Junction, COLORADO (Enviro Snowflake Brief)— The controversial Acting Director for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), William Perry Pendley, has barricaded himself inside his Grand Junction office, and he is threatening to sell off all public lands in Montana to his oil and gas friends, if BLM Law Enforcement attempts to physically remove him.
According to a BLM Law Enforcement spokesman, Pendley refused to vacate his office Wednesday evening, after U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in Montana found him in contempt of his court ruling for not vacating his BLM position- Judge Morris ruled earlier this month that Pendley had served as the Acting BLM Director illegally.
Pendley, from behind his barricaded office door, pleaded for help on social media throughout the early morning Thursday asking the neo-fascist group, the Proud Boys, to “lock and load and saddle up to Grand Junction.”
Proud Boys is an outsized reputation fringe, far-right group with overtly pro-Trump and libertarian views with an affinity for costuming as vigilantes or paramilitaries- kindred spirits of Pendley.
In a bizarre twist to the Pendley tense standoff with BLM law enforcement, by 10am Thursday, George Takei lead a large group of LGBT rights activists and environmentalists in front of BLM headquarters. The protesters self-proclaimed themselves as “gay guys for public lands” said they responded to Pendley’s Twitter plea to the #proudboys and Mr. Takei’s comedic poster idea.
Mr. Takei encouraged them all to bring a sign showing a photoshopped poster of themselves making out with Pendley, or doing other “very gay things with him.”
Apparently, the hashtag #proud boys has a friendlier meaning on social media in contrast to it identifying with Pendley type right wing nutjobs.
An anonymous friend of Pendley said, “Overseeing the 256 million acres of U.S. public lands for the BLM is a dream come true for him, and he’s not willing to give it up without a fight- an actual fight.” Few could argue Pendley how over qualified he is for trump’s goals with public lands.
Pendley’s qualifications include a history of supporting anti-government extremists, radical anti-conservation positions, a deeply held belief antithetical to the BLM mission that public lands should be privatized, unprecedented conflicts of interest and ethical issues, and a proven track record of dismantling the very agency he is tasked with managing.
The standoff shows no signs of a peaceful resolution, and there are no indications the trump administration is ready to allow law enforcement to do their job and “kick him out and take his keys.”
