FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2021
DENVER—Today, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee voted 10-10 on the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the Bureau of Land Management. The tie vote sets the stage for the full Senate to take up Stone-Manning’s nomination.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Jennifer Rokala:
“It is high time for the Senate to approve the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning to lead the Bureau of Land Management. For 30 years, Tracy has been recognized as one of the best in the West at bringing communities and industries together to manage our public lands and natural resources with an eye towards the future.
“The senators who have launched a character assassination campaign against Tracy Stone-Manning are describing someone completely foreign to the person I, and so many people around the West, know.
“Despite never having a Senate-confirmed director to lead the Bureau of Land Management, the Trump administration waged a campaign to eviscerate agency leadership by forcibly moving its headquarters to rural Colorado. It is critical that the Senate move quickly to confirm Stone-Manning so she can get to work rebuilding an agency that manages one-tenth of all lands in the United States.”
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- “The concerns that many folks have about Stone-Manning’s nomination is that she’s going to be more on the side of protecting public lands for public uses, and the folks who want public lands to be used for more development don’t like that. These other issues are being used as a way to block her confirmation. I don’t think anybody really cares what she did 32 years ago.” — University of Colorado Professor Mark Squillace [The New York Times]
- Previous leaders of BLM, Neil Kornze and Jim Baca: Stone-Manning the right person to lead the Bureau of Land Management [Salt Lake Tribune]
- Compiled support across the spectrum, industries for Tracy Stone-Manning to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management [Compiled by NWF Action Fund]
- “Senator Barrasso is free to make whatever decision he deems fit regarding Tracy’s nomination, but if he’s weighing her qualifications, her commitment to work across the aisle, and her dedication to prudently managing our public lands, supporting her nomination should be an easy decision.” — Mike Saccone, spokesperson for Stone-Manning’s employer, the National Wildlife Federation [The Hill]
- “Tracy is well suited to be the next Director because she understands the importance of listening to local input, has years of experience bridging partisan divides, and recognizes the value of our public lands.” — Colorado Senator Michael Bennet [Colorado Public Radio]
- As Biden’s BLM pick awaits confirmation, its Grand Junction headquarters sit empty [Colorado Newsline]
Quotes from members of the committee made this morning
- “She has a 20-year record of working with the timber industry in Montana, of working with Republicans and Democrats, of working for the governor and for our colleague Senator Tester, and her reputation until this confirmation hearing was impeccable. I am disgusted by what has happened in this committee, disgusted, and I will never forget it. And we should move forward with this vote today, Mr. Chairman, because this is the worst example of character assassination I have ever seen on this committee.” — Sen. Heinrich [Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources]
- “No information that has come to light since 1993 indicates she committed any sort of a crime. Rather she built a solid reputation over the past three decades as a dedicated public servant and problem solver and she was confirmed on that, on performance.” — Sen. Manchin [Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources]
For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. To speak with an expert on public lands, contact Aaron Weiss at 720-279-0019 or aaron@westernpriorities.org. Sign up for Look West to get daily public lands and energy news sent to your inbox.