Interior Department Hit With Lawsuit Over Temporary Appointments

The Interior Department allegedly violated the law by continually allowing deputies to run the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service on a monthly basis rather than appoint permanent directors, two environmental groups say.

The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Western Watersheds Project claim in a lawsuit they reported filing Monday that Interior is violating the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and the Administrative Procedure Act by continually naming BLM deputy director William Perry Pendley as bureau director, and NPS deputy director David Vela as parks chief.

President Donald Trump hasn’t nominated a permanent director to either ...