Unedited, less headlines, Press Release from the BLM
Bob Abbey Leaves with BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Program in Shambles
WASHINGTON, DC – Bureau of Land Management Director Robert Abbey announced today that he will retire from public service at the end of May to rejoin his family full-time in Mississippi. Appointed by President Obama in 2009, Director Abbey’s three-year tenure in leadership of the nation’s largest land management agency marks the culmination of a 34 year career of state and federal service.
“Bob has devoted his life and career to the service of his country and the stewardship of the resources with which we have been blessed,” Secretary Salazar said. “There has not been a time of more real or positive change at the Bureau of Land Management than under Bob’s leadership, from the renewable energy revolution he helped lead and the oil and gas reforms he implemented to the spectacular conservation lands he has helped protect for future generations. We are indebted to Bob for his visionary leadership, for his humility and kindness, and for the remarkable legacy he is passing along.”
“Serving as the BLM Director and having the opportunity to work with the most dedicated public servants in all of government has been the highlight of my career,” said BLM Director Bob Abbey. “It has been a privilege to work for President Obama and with Secretary Salazar and his team at the Department of the Interior on natural resource and energy issues of national importance. I will always be grateful to the Secretary for the opportunity he gave me and for his unwavering support. I am proud of what we have accomplished together and I leave knowing that our efforts to date will lead to even greater achievements in the months ahead.”
Since being confirmed by the U.S. Senate in August, 2009, Abbey oversaw the approval of 29 large-scale renewable energy projects on public lands, including 16 solar projects, 5 wind farms, and 8 geothermal plants. Prior to 2009, not a single solar project land had been approved for construction on public lands.
Abbey also implemented important reforms to BLM’s oil and gas leasing process to improve certainty, reduce conflict, and ensure that development is occurring in the right places and the right ways. At the same time, BLM has successfully helped expand domestic oil and gas production, including through the approval of major new projects like recently authorized Greater Natural Buttes project in Utah.
During his tenure, Abbey oversaw a significant expansion of the National Landscape Conservation System, led the agency toward more landscape-scale and partnership-driven planning, was a key leader in President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative, helped the agency incorporate climate change more fully into its planning, and developed a set of wilderness recommendations that are a blueprint for Congressional action.
Abbey, a native of Clarksdale, Miss., is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He and his wife Linda have been married for 35 years and have one daughter, Leigh. For a biography of Abbey, click here.
Following Director Abbey’s retirement on May 31, BLM Deputy Director Mike Pool will serve as Acting Director.
Contact: Adam Fetcher (DOI) 202-208-6416
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Categories: Horse News, Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I wonder if the deputy director Mike Pool will be appointed as a permanent Director or if they will bring in someone else.
It’s the devil we know isn’t it?
When oh when will Salazar see the light and retire? (or be replaced).
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No doubt he will receive a golden handshake. Horse hooves to the butt, would be more fitting. Good riddance. Salazar to go next.?
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Well, we can only hope who ever fills his seat is wiser and finds humane solutions, hmmmmmmmmmmmm
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Happy dance 🙂 !!
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And good riddance! 1 down 2 more to go.
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Now to get rid of the whole DOI/BLM bunch ! It is completely corrupt IMO.
If only Congressman Raul Grijalva was the Sec. of Interior.
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Steve,
Nice touch.
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Chocolate covered turd speak from DOI….eat it citizens because it tastes good!
Sometimes I wish god would pull the plug on Bob Abbey just like Abbey pulled the plug on our wildlife, wild equines (I consider them wildlife) and our public lands; he will be replaced by another killer troll.
Good news, bad news? Good news: maybe he is leaving because he knows the fur is going to fly soon. Bad news: he wants his retirement so he can go work privately for the land rapists and wildlife murderers.
Excuse me, but did any part of that chocolate covered fecal matter from DOI Public Affairs note what he planned to do post-wild equine genocide?
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Speaking of ridding ourselves of Kenny S. ain’t we got a Udall or two running around? Stewart Udall as I recall was more than a good man but a fine Sec. of the Interior. K.S. couldn’t shine his shoes!
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And let’s not forget Bob Abbey’s legacy at YERINGTON, NEVADA
http://ppjg.me/2010/08/08/blm-director-bob-abbey-making-exposure-to-radioactive-uranium-contamination-sound-%e2%80%9cfriendly%e2%80%9d/
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“Someday we’ll live like horses
Free rein from your old iron fences
There’s more ways than one to regain your senses
Break out the stalls and we’ll live like horses”
(Elton John “Live Like Horses”)
We’re having CAKE tonight ! 2 nights in a row–ya-hoo.
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How many horses has he rounded up since his last retirement? Anyone know? See ya, Bob. Thanks for that “new direction.” Still waiting for it.
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The entire Department of the Inferior needs cleaned out and disinfected
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The spin and reading between the lines, makes me wanna puke. Pray for indictments!!!
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Thats the good news but I’m scared who will replace him. We could go from the fat straight to boiling oil–like Callie. Ether way BLM is sssooooo corrupt and Obama hasn’t done a thing to help. Scary.
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Don’t let the door hit you on your way out, Bob. Absolutely, good riddance!
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Don’t let up for a minute. Our Wild Horses and Burros are still in great danger…in and out of captivity. DON’T LET UP.
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America’s Public Lands are coveted by many that would stop at nothing to gain control of them and our Federally Protected Wild Horses and Burros stand in the way of massive developments and profits.
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Oh Louie, you speak the truth. I’m anxious to know more about Mike Pool, and how
the legal work is coming along. It looks so bright and hopeful, but clouds easily appear.
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Well you can be assured that whoever it is they will carry on Ole Bob’s “management” of our wh&b. There are a FEW BLM employees who would do things differently if they could, but they are certainly not high enough up the ladder to be appointed Director. I’m sure Salazar would like that eventually to go to Callie H. I am sure our wild horses and burros didn’t exactly see his “visionary leadership” , nor his “humility and kindness”. Does Salazar really think people are that stupid?
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Interesting observations and comments, Rhonda.
As a point of Callie taking A-BUTTS job, remember that the only employee in DOI’s headshed to get fired (asked to resign?) because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster was a……..
WOMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the job for less than a year, no less.
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Will they again hand the hot potato to a woman and let her take the heat?
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Louie, our comments overlapped……you crack me up. Read my post and see that wild equine advocate minds think alike. 😉
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KISSY, KISSY, HUGGY, HUGGY ~ ~ all around: Obama, Salazar, Abbey. Could be true, Abbey’s reasons for leaving, but i tend to I wonder what the real story is on Abbey leaving? Now how about Kenny saying, “Bye, Bye.”
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Slaughterczar’s job is to bring Colorado to Obama for the 2012 election and make the HUGE AGRI-Land sucking machine happy and quiet.
He might be gone after the reelection of Obama. I don’t think that will happen, but if it does, let’s see who Kenny goes to work for. Want to take bets?
He should have been fired after Deepwater.
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FUN WITH DICK AND JANE or
(Pass the Hot Potato)
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PLease see my facebook page for more info on Bob Abbey. We can do better, but be aware that we can definately do worse as well!! We could get a new director who comes out FOR the slaughter of our wild horses and burros in holding!! Please call the DOI to demand a new director who has the actual best interest of our Wild Horses and Burros in mind!!
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I really wish it was Ken Salazar who was retiring, he is the real bad guy.
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Salazar was the worst for the wild horses and burros along with James Watt who was Secty of Interior during Reagan years.
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Who would you all (readers and commentors) want to see at the head of the Dept. of the Interior and as head of BLM? Any suggestions?
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If I were choosing, I would pick an ecologist or someone else with a science background who had never lived in the West and had no personal ties to the ranchers on public lands. I think it is the only way to break the devastating bond between cattle ranches and a federal agency. For a group of people completely dependent on the hard work and good will of American taxpayers whose faces they will never see, public lands ranchers have not demonstrated good faith toward their country. They don’t care about the United States of America. They only care that about whether their grandchildren will have a chance to wear cowboy hats while driving golf carts across public lands.
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So when will the wild ones get protection or will they become extinct? I finally realized how they get away with saying that the mustangs are not wild. It has to do with the number of chromosomes. What they say are wild have 66 chromosomes and today’s horse has 64. It was stated that the only wild horses are in Mongolia.
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