Senate should confirm Tracy Stone-Manning as Bureau of Land Management Director

Statement:
“The Senate should swiftly confirm Tracy Stone-Manning as the director of the Bureau of Land Management.

Stone-Manning has the experience necessary to make wise decisions about lands held in trust for all Americans, particularly when it comes to mining and oil & gas drilling that will affect our water and climate for thousands of years.” — Bonnie Gestring, Earthworks Northwest Program Director

Background:
On behalf of all Americans, present and future, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages the majority of federal public lands in the United States, the vast majority of which are within western states. The BLM also manages almost all of the federal government’s onshore, non-coal mineral resources—whether they lie under BLM or US Forest Service lands. To do that, the BLM director is charged with “sustaining the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations” by “managing public lands for a variety of uses such as energy development, livestock grazing, recreation, and timber harvesting while ensuring natural, cultural, and historic resources are maintained for present and future use”.

Today the Senate is expected to consider President Biden’s nominee for BLM director. Tracy Stone-Manning is immensely qualified for the position as the past director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, chief of staff for former Montana Governor Steve Bullock, and Executive Director of the Clark Fork Coalition before that.