Billings, Mont. (AP) – President Donald Trump’s candidate to supervise an agency that manages A quarter of a million acres of public land withdrew His appointment Following the revelations that she criticized the Republican president in 2021 for prompting the January 6 attack on the American Capitol.
The withdrawal of Kathleen Sgamma to direct the land management office of the Interior Department was announced Thursday morning at the start of its confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee for Energy and Natural Resources.
David Bernhardt, who was interior secretary of Trump’s first mandate, suggested on X that the withdrawal of Sgamma was “self-inflicted” and he included a link to a website that published his comments 2021. Bernhardt said that people whose opinions do not align with the Trump should not ask for political appointments in his administration.
“I am disgusted by the violence observed yesterday and the role of President Trump in the distribution of the disinformation that prompted him,” said Sgamma in the comments reported previously by documentation, which is described as a surveillance journalism project.
Sgamma confirmed his withdrawal on LinkedIn and said it was an honor to have been nominated.
“I remain attached to President Trump and her American energy agenda and to multiple use access for all,” said Sgamma. Since 2006, it has been part of the Western Energy Alliance, based in Denver, a commercial group of the petroleum industry, and has been a vocal critic of the energy policies of democratic administrations.
White House spokesperson Liz Huston said the administration was looking forward to appointing another candidate but had not offered a calendar.
The long -standing representative of the petroleum and gas industry has seemed to be well worn to carry out Trump’s plans to reduce restrictions on energy development, including in Western states where the land office has vast assets. The agency also supervises mining, grazing and leisure.
The withdrawal of Sgamma underlined the creation of the Trump administration of A “loyalty test” To eliminate the subordinates who are out of step with him, said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the left center for Western priorities.
“This is the world in which we are – if that is what happened – where to be healthy and recognize reality with the White House is enough to sink an appointment,” he said.
Trump has tested the extent to which Republicans are ready to support his supercharged program “Make America Great Again”. Few Republicans have Criticized Trump after his radical pardons Supporters, including violent rioters, charged on January 6, 2021, attack against the Capitol.
Most Republicans in Congress have played a potential negative impact on Trump’s actions, including generalized prices on American allies, and stressed the importance of uniting behind him.
The Bureau of Land Management plays a central role in a long -standing debate on the best use of land belonging to the government, and its policies have changed greatly because control of the White House has moved between the Republicans and the Democrats. Under President Joe Biden, Democrat, he slowed down oil drilling and coal extraction on federal lands while developing renewable power. The agency under Biden also moved to put Conservation on a more equal foot With oil drilling and other extractive industries in order to treat climate change.
Trump reverses the price of the Land Office again.
Thursday, officials announced that they would not in depth the environmental impacts of oil and gas leases in 5,500 square miles (14,100 square kilometers) from Lando office in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The leases were sold to companies between 2015 and 2020, but were bound by judicial disputes.
This week too, Trump has signed a decree aimed at Stimulate coal production. Which will end the ban on the Biden administration New federal coal sales On the land of the Wyoming and Montana office, the largest coal fields in the country.
The Land Bureau had around 10,000 employees at the start of Trump’s second term, but at least 800 employees were dismissed or resigned among the Trump administration efforts to Reduce federal workforce.
He spent four years without confirmed director during Trump’s first term. Trump moved the agency’s headquarters to Colorado before returning to Washington, DC, under Biden.
The president of the Senate of Energy Energy Committee, Mike Lee, said that he would work with the administration to find a new candidate for the office.
“His work directly affects millions of Americans – especially in the West – and his leadership is important,” said the republican of Utah.
UTAH officials last year launched a legal effort for check From the Bureau of Land Management Property of the federal government and put it under state control. They were lower by the Supreme Court of the United States.
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Daly reported to Washington, DC
