{"id":10471,"date":"2025-02-14T14:17:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T21:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=10471"},"modified":"2025-04-26T16:31:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T22:31:07","slug":"public-lands-pick-to-lead-blm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/?p=10471","title":{"rendered":"Public Lands – Pick to lead BLM"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Kathleen Sgamma is a longtime oil and gas industry advocate, often critical of the agency\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n

Longtime oil and gas industry advocate and vocal critic of federal oversight Kathleen Sgamma is President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an agency that oversees some 18.4 million surface acres and 42.9 million acres of mineral estate in Wyoming.<\/p>\n

With management authorities that affect agriculture, wildlife habitat, recreation, oil and gas development, commercial-scale renewable energy and the world\u2019s largest coal producing region in the Powder River Basin, the federal agency plays a pivotal role in Wyoming\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

Sgamma is president of the Denver, Colorado-based Western Energy Alliance, a powerful oil and gas trade group that advocates for the industry\u2019s access to public lands \u2014 like those managed by the agency she\u2019s now slated to run. The group is often at odds with federal agencies, particularly the BLM, over federal rules and regulations. Sgamma and the Western Energy Alliance are well known throughout the West, and her nomination has garnered cheers from fossil fuel industry leaders and jeers from many in conservation.<\/p>\n

Gov. Mark Gordon described Trump\u2019s nomination of Sgamma as \u201can excellent choice\u2026to lead the Bureau of Land Management.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone who has worked with Ms. Sgamma,\u201d Gordon continued in a prepared statement, \u201cI know she is well-qualified and knowledgeable when it comes to Wyoming, the West, and multiple use of public lands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public lands advocacy group Center for Western Priorities, however, regards the nomination as \u201cinappropriate\u201d and \u201ca direct threat to Western communities and wildlife that depend on healthy landscapes, clean air, and clean water.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sgamma \u201chas consistently misrepresented the industry\u2019s impact on public lands, always putting oil and gas companies\u2019 interests above those of all Americans,\u201d Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Rachael Hamby said in a prepared statement. \u201cThis appointment will hand the keys to our public lands over to oil and gas companies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kathleen Sgamma is a longtime oil and gas industry advocate, often critical of the agency\u2019s policies. Longtime oil and gas industry advocate and vocal critic of federal oversight Kathleen Sgamma is President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to lead the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, an agency that oversees some 18.4 million surface acres and 42.9 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-public-lands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10471"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10473,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10471\/revisions\/10473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbbch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}