“The department is unaware of any Democrat voicing similar concerns related to this issue during the Obama administration,” the department said. The bureau manages 245 million acres of federal public lands and 700 million acres of subsurface acreage, which holds 30 percent of the country’s minerals, according to the bureau. Nearly a third of the land in Montana is owned by the federal government, according to the lawsuit filed by Mr. Bullock. Former directors of the agency have criticized the appointment of Mr. Pendley, who has been public about his disdain for preserving federal land. In 2016, he wrote in National Review that “the founding fathers intended all lands owned by the federal government to be sold.”

Source: New York Times September 26, 2020 21:45 UTC