Billings, Mont. – President Donald Trump’s candidate to supervise an agency that manages a quarter of billion public land acres He has retired Your nomination After the revelations that criticized the Republican President in 2021 for inciting the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
The withdrawal of Kathleen SGAMMA to direct the land administration office of the Department of Interior was announced on Thursday morning at the beginning of its confirmation hearing before the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
David Bernhardt, who served as Secretary of the Interior in Trump’s first mandate, suggested in X that Sgamma’s retreat was “self -inflicted” and included a link to a website that published his comments from 2021. Bernhardt indicated that people whose opinions do not align with Trump’s should not seek political appointments in their administration.
“I am disgusted by the violence witnessed yesterday and the role of President Trump in the dissemination of erroneous information that prompted it,” said Sgamma in the previous comments informed by Documented, which describes himself as a surveillance journalism project.
SGAMMA confirmed his retirement on LinkedIn and said it was an honor to have been nominated.
“I remain committed to President Trump and his American energy agenda and ensuring multiple use for everyone,” said Sgamma. Since 2006 he has been with Western Energy Alliance, based in Denver, a commercial group of the oil industry, and has been a vocal criticism of the energy policies of democratic administrations.
White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the administration hoped to appoint another candidate but did not offer a timeline.
The representative of the oil industry and long -standing gas seemed well addressed to carry out Trump’s plans to reverse energy development restrictions, even in the western states where the land office has great holdings. The agency also supervises mining, grazing and recreation.
Sgamma withdrawal stressed the creation of the Trump administration of A “loyalty test” To eliminate subordinates who are out of tune with him, said Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Western Priorities Center on the left.
“That is the world in which we are, if that is what happened, where being sane and recognizing reality with the White House is enough to sink a nomination,” he said.
Trump has been testing to what extent the Republicans are willing to support their supercharged agenda “Make America Great Again”. Few Republicans have He criticized Trump after his scanning pardons of supporters, including violent uprooters, accused in the attack of January 6, 2021 to the Capitol.
Most of the Republicans of Congress have made the potential negative impact of Trump’s actions, including generalized rates in American allies, and have emphasized the importance of joining behind him.
The land administration office plays a central role in a long -standing debate about the best use of land owned by the government, and their policies have changed sharply as the White House control has changed between Republicans and Democrats. According to President Joe Biden, a Democrat, stopped oil drilling and coal mining in federal lands while expanding renewable energy. The low Biden agency also moved to put conservation in a more equal base with oil drilling and other extractive industries in an attempt to address climate change.
Trump is reversing the course of the land office once again.
On Thursday, officials announced that they will not integrately analyze the environmental impacts of oil and gas leases in 5,500 square miles combined (14,100 square kilometers) of the land of the office in Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The leases were sold to companies between 2015 and 2020, but have been tied by legal challenges.
Also this week, Trump signed an executive order aimed at Increased coal production. That will end with the prohibition of the Biden administration of New federal carbon sales In office lands in Wyoming and Montana, the largest coal fields in the country.
The land office had about 10,000 employees at the beginning of Trump’s second mandate, but at least 800 employees were fired or renounced amid the efforts by the Trump administration for Drafting of the Federal Work Force.
It was four years without a director confirmed during Trump’s first mandate. Trump moved the headquarters of the Agency to Colorado before returning it to Washington, DC, Bajo Biden.
The president of the Senate Energy Committee, Mike Lee, said he would work with the administration to find a new office candidate.
“His work directly affects millions of Americans, especially in the West, and his leadership is important,” said Utah Republican.
Utah officials last year launched a legal effort to control of the Federal Government Land Administration Property and puts it under state control. they were refused by the United States Supreme Court.
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Daly reported from Washington, DC
