A Champion of Oil Ends Her Bid to the Lead Bureau of Land Management

New York Times

10-04-2025

Kathleen Sgamma, an advocate for oil and gas whom President Trump had tapped to run the Bureau of Land Management, has abruptly withdrawn her nomination, a White House spokeswoman said.
Ms. Sgamma had been scheduled to testify on Thursday before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which was considering her nomination to oversee the agency. It manages 245 million acres of public land across the United States.
At the start of the hearing, Senator Mike Lee, the Utah Republican who leads the committee, announced that Ms. Sgamma had withdrawn but did not elaborate.
Liz Huston, a White House spokeswoman, confirmed that Ms. Sgamma had removed herself from consideration but did not offer an explanation. 'We accept her withdrawal and look forward to putting forth another nominee,' Ms. Huston said.
Ms. Sgamma worked as president of the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance for nearly 20 years before stepping down this year. In that role, she promoted independent oil and gas companies, which have sought to strip away government protections and expand drilling and mining on public lands in Western states.
She opposed virtually every policy aimed at addressing climate change, conserving public lands and protecting biodiversity.
This week, the investigative news outlet Documented published a memo it had obtained showing that Ms. Sgamma had criticized President Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In a memo the day after the attack by supporters of Mr. Trump, Ms. Sgamma wrote to members of the Western Energy Alliance that she was 'disgusted by the violence witnessed yesterday and President Trump's role in spreading misinformation that incited it.'
In recent months, applicants for positions in the Trump administration have said they have been asked for their thoughts on Jan. 6 and who they believe won the 2020 election, in what many described as a perceived loyalty test.
David Bernhardt, who led the Interior Department during the first Trump administration, suggested on social media on Thursday that the recently publicized memo written by Ms. Sgamma was the reason for her withdrawal.
'Sad,' Mr. Bernhardt wrote on X, with a link to the article about Ms. Sgamma's memo. 'Self-inflicted.'
Ms. Sgamma did not respond to a request for comment.
The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's main lobbying group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Western Energy Alliance declined to comment.
Environmental activists, who had roundly opposed Ms. Sgamma for the role, said they were relieved.
'Good riddance to Sgamma, whose withdrawal is good news for America's public lands and imperiled animals,' Taylor McKinnon, the Southwest director of the Center for Biological Diversity, said.
'There's no doubt that Trump's next nominee will also be a poisonous threat to our wildlife and wild places, but this speed bump gives senators a chance to ponder whether they really want to feed America's public lands and monuments into the snapping jaws of the fracking and mining industries,' he said.
Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, an environmental nonprofit organization, has criticized Ms. Sgamma for not making public a list of members of the Western Energy Alliance.
'It is ironic, and maybe fitting, if maybe her lack of candor and secrecy is what ultimately did her nomination in with the White House,' Mr. Weiss said.