An environmental organization is suing former republican state Senator James Settelmeyer and the Governor's office for his gubernatorial appointment to head the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (NDCNR).

“He seems like potentially the worse person to install at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources given his long track record of opposing environmental protections,” said Center for Biological Diversity Great Basin Director Patrick Donnelly. 

As we reported on Monday, The Center for Biological Diversity as well as John Walker who retired from the state conservation agency in 2013 are saying Settelmeyer needs to be removed as director of NDCNR. 

They say not only is Settelmeyer a longtime opponent of environmental regulations and protections, but his appointment is also a blatant violation of the state constitution.

“The constitutional clearly forbids this appointment. Senator Settelmeyer was a legislator when the legislature increased the salary for this position. That happened during the last legislative session. And, then now he is appointed to that position,” said Donnelly.

It's a legal term commonly referred to as a "cooling off period", so that legislators aren't having conflicts of interests with positions they could fill.

Donnelly says Settelmeyer has a long track record of opposing environmental protections including voting against a 2019 bill that aims to make Nevada carbon neutral in the long-term.

Donnelly says that Settelmeyer has voted against several bills that would protect public lands in the state.

“He’s also voted against increasing the budget to deal with climate change for the agency he is now leading. There was a bill to give the department of conservation and natural resources more financial resources to address climate change, and he voted against that. So it really just seems that this is someone who is unsuited to lead that agency,” said Donnelly.

We reached out to NDCNR as well as the Governor's Office and they both responded with a statement from Governor Lombardo's Chief of Staff, Ben Kieckhefer.

“We have great confidence in Director Settelmeyer and look forward to defending his appointment,” wrote Kieckhefer.