President Donald Trump has nominated Kathleen Sgamma, a prominent advocate for the oil and gas industry, to be the new director the Bureau of Land Management. The agency under the Department of Interior is responsible for overseeing approximately 245 million acres of federal land in the United States, including 70 million acres in Alaska.
Sgamma has been the president of the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance since 2006, where she has been a vocal proponent of increased domestic energy production and has consistently pushed for policies favoring oil and gas development on public lands.
Sgamma was a staunch critic of harsh regulatory and shutdown measures promulgated by the Biden Administration. In 2024, the Alliance, along with petroleum associations from New Mexico, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah, filed a lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Land Management’s new leasing rules. These rules increased royalty rates, minimum bids, rental rates, and bonding requirements for companies drilling on federal lands. The industry groups argued that the updated regulations would close eligible lands for leasing and disproportionately harm smaller companies.
A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she has never worked for the Bureau of Land Management.
“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,” wrote POLITICO.
Sgamma’s nomination aligns with President Trump’s agenda to bolster U.S. fossil fuel production and achieve “energy dominance.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Sgamma would work under the direction of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to implement policies aimed at expanding oil and gas drilling on public lands.
Her nomination will be strongly opposed by the environmental non-governmental industry. But she will likely have the support of many leaders in the western states. She would replace Tracy Stone-Manning, a radical environmentalist who served President Joe Biden’s anti-oil and gas agenda and had previously worked for EarthFirst!, where she was tied to a tree-spiking incident.
Good riddance. I was raised by the inaugural cadre who developed the Sierra Club into quite a dominant environmental force in America. Eventually that Organisation, like MANY US environmental groups, departed from working WITH sorting America’s energy an resource needs into fanatical groups all over America today that think they are going to save the planet, behind which millions of persons will slideinto poverty and death. It remains vital that America plan in the medium term for its critical resources AND ENERGY needs; lest America again find itself at war further within its borders. Oil & gas + Coal are meant to be ingredient in a “ENERY TRANSITION policy. Otherwise, the USA will be doomed to bounce back-and-forth between this who plan for the future and those who plan for short-term benefits. Glad to see the extremist left will be living on the streets —- and NOT to soon!!
Sometime around 1970, I remember standing on the wooden sidewalk in Wrangell, and seeing a pickup drive by, and on its rear window it had a bumper sticker that read:
“Sierra Club go home
your backyard is dirty”
.
haha…I never forgot that.
This is promising.
Dearest Penelope,
As I write this, there are no comments, but I can feel Whidbey quivering. We all can, and we fear there will be no end to his outraged commentating.
BLM, another 3 letter gov’t agency that needs a good house cleaning.
Wounder if Mrs. Sgamma knows anything about ANILCA? How about fish, wildlife, access, forestry and mining issues in Alaska on BLM land?
Dunleavy and Sen Sullivan can help in that regard!
Government employees that answer to the American tax payers. What a great idea.
Who needs BLM.
Beautiful blow to the deepstate!
BLM needs to be done away with and the land returned to the state. You can throw NPS and Fish & Wildlife in there too. No more federal land managers, Alaskà for Alaskans.
so much better than old crooked joes appointment of the eco terrorist from missoula as head of the blm – one of the all time worst appointments ever made. everyday this country appears to be clawing back from the darkness from the obama reign of terror ( 16 years , including trump 45 who was stymied by the rhinos and bureaucrats , crooked judges , et al )
reported now that rfk jr is confirmed as head of hhs, even with murkowskis support !
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