SEATTLE (AP) — A senior administration official says President Donald Trump intends to withdraw the nomination of William Perry Pendley to head the Bureau of Land Management. The news was cheered by conservationists who insisted the longtime advocate of selling federal lands should not be overseeing them. Pendley is a former oil industry and property rights attorney from Wyoming who has been leading the Bureau of Land Management for more than a year under a series of temporary orders from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Democrats alleged the temporary orders were an attempt to skirt the nomination process, and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and conservation groups have filed lawsuits to have him removed from office.

ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2019, file photo, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Acting Director William "Perry" Pendley speaks at a conference for journalists in Fort Collins, Colo. President Donald Trump intends to withdraw the nomination of Pendley to head the Bureau of Land Management, a senior administration official said Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020, much to the relief of environmentalists who insisted the longtime advocate of selling federal lands should not be overseeing them. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

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