By Valerie Volcovici
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration has named Kathleen Sgamma, a vocal oil and gas advocate for Western states, to head up the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which manages the use of the country’s nearly 250 million acres of public lands.
Sgamma heads the Western Energy Alliance, which represents oil and gas companies that operate on federal lands, and had been critical of Biden and Obama administration efforts to set aside public land for conservation instead of opening more acres for energy development.
As head of the BLM, Sgamma will oversee federal leasing programs for oil and gas, mining, grazing and renewable energy development.
Biden’s administration slashed new oil and gas leasing on federal lands as part of his climate change agenda, and implemented a program to lease land specifically for conservation.
Sgamma is expected to take steps to boost the number of quarterly oil and gas auctions in Western states as well as the acreage offered.
Oil production on federal land accounts for about 11% of U.S. output.
The administration also nominated Brian Nesvik, the recently retired director of Wyoming’s Game and Fish Department, to be the director of the Fish and Wildlife Service. Nesvik had been critical of the Biden administration’s decisions not to delist grizzly bears and other species from the endangered species list.
The two nominees will serve under Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who earlier this month unveiled a suite of orders aimed at carrying out President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda to maximize domestic energy and minerals production and slash red tape.
That order also called for revoking three Endangered Species Act regulations that were finalized under the Biden administration and roll back a rule protecting migratory birds from unintentional killing.
Conservation groups criticized the appointments, saying the nominees would damage environmental and wildlife protections in favor of more energy development.
“Everyone who treasures the outdoors should oppose her nomination,” said Taylor McKinnon, southwest director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Mark Porter and Christopher Cushing)
