Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Colorado-based Western Energy Alliance, has been nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees hundreds of millions of acres of publicly owned land across the nation.
Sgamma is the second Coloradan to be tapped by President Donald Trump to head a federal agency. Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, was confirmed as the energy secretary in Trump’s second term as president.
As head of the BLM, Sgamma, an advocate for oil and gas producers, would manage energy development on public lands, including the U.S. Forest Service.
Notice of her nomination was published in the Congressional Record on Tuesday.
A vocal critic of the Biden administration’s energy and public land policies, Sgamma praised Trump’s executive order issued on his first day in office that targets “burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations” and aims to boost oil and gas production on public lands. Sgamma, whose organization represents independent oil and gas companies, said in an interview with The Denver Post that the volume of leases issued on federal lands under the Biden administration was “ridiculously low.”
“We’re very happy that the regulatory thicket is going to be cleared out by the Trump administration and we will work with them closely to do so,” Sgamma told The Post.
The BLM manages about 245 million acres of public lands and roughly 30% of the nation’s minerals, according to the agency’s website. The lands, most of which are in the West, are managed for multiple uses, including energy development, mining, livestock grazing and conservation.
The Biden administration approved a rule intended to put conservation on par with other activities on the federal lands. The administration also paused leasing for a while to review programs at the Department of Interior as part of addressing climate change.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who represents Colorado’s 4th District, said Trump had made “a fantastic selection” in nominating Sgamma.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with her on several efforts to responsibly manage our lands while also allowing our oil and gas industry to thrive and bring back American energy dominance,” Boebert said in a statement.
But Sgamma’s nomination drew swift criticism from conservation organizations.
“Kathleen Sgamma would be an unmitigated disaster for our public lands as head of Trump’s Bureau of Land Management,” Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Everyone who treasures the outdoors should oppose her nomination. If Sgamma’s confirmed, we’ll fight her attacks on public lands and wildlife at every step.”
Rachael Hamby, policy director for Colorado-based Center for Western Priorities, called Sgamma an inappropriate choice to run the BLM. Sgamma has consistently misrepresented the industry’s impact on public lands and put oil and gas companies’ interests above those of all Americans, Hamby said in a statement.
“Sgamma will seek to lease every inch of our lands for drilling, no matter their recreational, scenic, ecological, or cultural value,” Hamby said.
Sgamma would succeed Tracy Stone-Manning, who became BLM director after serving in executive positions with the National Wildlife Federation.
Sgamma joined the Western Energy Alliance in 2006. Before that, she worked 11 years in the information technology sector and three years as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science/defense and arms control studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in information technology from Virginia Tech.
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