DoomsdaysCW<p>Trump taps <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OilIndustry" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>OilIndustry</span></a> insider to oversee drilling on <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PublicLands" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PublicLands</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BureauOfLandManagement" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BureauOfLandManagement</span></a> nominee <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KathleenSgamma" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>KathleenSgamma</span></a> heads a <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FossilFuel" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>FossilFuel</span></a> industry trade group that sued the Biden administration over a landmark <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/conservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>conservation</span></a> rule.</p><p>By Maxine Joselow</p><p>&quot;President Donald <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Trump</span></a> has nominated oil and gas advocate <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KathleenSgamma" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>KathleenSgamma</span></a> to lead the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, the agency tasked with managing millions of acres of public lands and waters for the benefit of all Americans.</p><p>&quot;The nomination of Sgamma, who heads a Denver-based oil and gas industry trade group called the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WesternEnergyAlliance" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>WesternEnergyAlliance</span></a>, heralds a seismic shift in the management of roughly 245 million acres of public property — about one-tenth of the nation’s land mass.</p><p>&quot;If confirmed by the Senate, she would be a key architect of Trump’s <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DrillBabyDrill" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>DrillBabyDrill</span></a> agenda alongside Interior Secretary and &#39;<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/EnergyCzar" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>EnergyCzar</span></a>&#39; <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DougBurgum" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>DougBurgum</span></a>. An MIT graduate who previously worked in consulting, she has advocated for the BLM to prioritize oil and gas drilling, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HardrockMining" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>HardrockMining</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/livestock" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>livestock</span></a> grazing on public lands nationwide.</p><p>&quot;A spokesman for Sgamma did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p>&quot;During his first term, Trump tapped conservative lawyer William Perry Pendley to lead the BLM on an acting basis. But Trump never nominated Pendley, a vocal advocate of selling off public lands, to helm the agency on a permanent basis, prompting a rebuke from a federal judge.</p><p>&quot;President Joe Biden in 2021 chose Tracy Stone-Manning, a prominent Montana-based <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/environmentalist" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>environmentalist</span></a>, to lead the BLM. Earlier in her career, Stone-Manning worked on conservation policy at the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NationalWildlifeFederation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NationalWildlifeFederation</span></a> and led Montana’s Department of Environmental Quality.</p><p>&quot;Under Biden, the BLM finalized a landmark rule that sought to put conservation, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/recreation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>recreation</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RenewableEnergy" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>RenewableEnergy</span></a> development on equal footing with <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ResourceExtraction" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ResourceExtraction</span></a> on public lands. Sgamma’s Western Energy Alliance filed a lawsuit challenging that rule, which the Trump administration is expected to overturn.</p><p>&quot;In an interview with The Washington Post in April, Sgamma criticized the regulation for allowing ranchers, renewable-energy developers and other interests to lease federal lands for the purpose of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/conservation" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>conservation</span></a> and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/HabitatRestoration" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>HabitatRestoration</span></a>.</p><p>&quot;We have no choice but to litigate,&#39; she said. &#39;These conservation leases seem to be designed to preclude energy development on federal lands.&#39;</p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Environmentalists" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Environmentalists</span></a> criticized <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Sgamma" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Sgamma</span></a>’s nomination.</p><p>&quot;&#39;This choice shows that the new administration will leave no favor ungranted for the oil and gas industry and the wealthy <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FossilFuel" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>FossilFuel</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/executives" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>executives</span></a> who funded Trump’s campaign,&#39; <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AlanZibel" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>AlanZibel</span></a>, oil and gas research director with the liberal advocacy group <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PublicCitizen" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>PublicCitizen</span></a>, said in an email.</p><p>&quot;<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/JeffEshelman" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>JeffEshelman</span></a>, president and <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CEO" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CEO</span></a> of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, which represents small oil producers, praised Sgamma’s selection while critiquing the Biden administration.&quot;</p><p>Original article:<br /><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/02/12/trump-bureau-land-management-kathleen-sgamma/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">washingtonpost.com/climate-env</span><span class="invisible">ironment/2025/02/12/trump-bureau-land-management-kathleen-sgamma/</span></a></p><p>Archived version:<br /><a href="https://archive.ph/tmTH6#selection-645.0-724.1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">archive.ph/tmTH6#selection-645</span><span class="invisible">.0-724.1</span></a><br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/USPol" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>USPol</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilAndGas" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BigOilAndGas</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Oiligarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Oiligarchy</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Oligarchy" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Oligarchy</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilAndGas" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BigOilAndGas</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilKnew" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BigOilKnew</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KillCapitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>KillCapitalism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/WaterIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>WaterIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LandIsLife" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>LandIsLife</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CorporateColonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>CorporateColonialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Corporatocracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>Corporatocracy</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/BigOilCriminals" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>BigOilCriminals</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateEmergency" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ClimateEmergency</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateCatastrophe" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ClimateCatastrophe</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateCrisis" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>ClimateCrisis</span></a><br /><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoMiningWithoutConsent" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NoMiningWithoutConsent</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/NoMiningOnConservationLands" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>NoMiningOnConservationLands</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DrainTheSwamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>DrainTheSwamp</span></a>? More like, <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/OilUpTheSwamp" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>OilUpTheSwamp</span></a>!<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndepdendentPetroleumAssociationOfAmerica" class="mention hashtag" rel="tag">#<span>IndepdendentPetroleumAssociationOfAmerica</span></a></p>