President Trump’s nomination of Kathleen Sgamma of Western Energy Alliance to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has the left and their friends in the media howling in dismay.
They are shocked the Coloradan whose background includes oil and gas would be picked to head an agency tasked with managing 700 million subsurface mineral rights and 245 million acres of surface land used for (checks notes) oil and gas, logging, grazing, and recreation.
Honored to be nominated by @realDonaldTrump to serve as Director of BLM to help unleash American energy. I’ve worked on public lands issues for 20 years at @WesternEnergy1 & greatly respect the work BLM does balancing multiple uses w stewardship. https://t.co/V0D5DhO8TX
— Kathleen Sgamma (@KathleenSgamma) February 12, 2025
From Politico’s E&E News:
Sgamma is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated political science and policy expert who has never worked for BLM, but has been an unapologetic advocate for oil and gas development on federal land. Her confirmation by the Senate into the position would represent a seismic change in direction for the bureau after the last four years under the Biden administration, during which BLM prioritized developing green energy to combat climate warming.
That’s as far as we read, because unlike the entire Beltway bureaucracy, we do not have one of those pricey Politico subscriptions.
Joe Biden showed his utter disdain for the West’s treasured multiple-use history of public lands by appointing Tracy Stone-Manning to take charge of the agency after he was elected to cut our energy production off at the knees.
PeakNation™ will recall Stone-Manning’s controversial history with eco-terrorism, and her affinity for radicals who drive spikes into trees to injure and kill timber workers.
By comparison, Sgamma is a tireless advocate for public lands and multiple use that includes developing our nation’s energy, while Stone-Manning’s policies drove energy prices through the roof.
The previous director was no friend to forest health either, opposing the very cutting and clearing of trees and brush necessary to prevent deadly wildfires.
We congratulate Sgamma on her nomination and look forward to her returning sanity to the care and management of the public lands we all hold so dear.