A champion of oil ends her bid to lead the Bureau of Land Management

Washington • Kathleen Sgamma, an advocate for oil and gas whom President Donald Trump had tapped to run the Bureau of Land Management, has abruptly withdrawn her nomination, a White House spokesperson said.

Sgamma had been scheduled to testify 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, Sen. Mike Lee, the Utah Republican who leads the committee, announced that Sgamma had withdrawn but did not elaborate.

Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson, confirmed that Sgamma had removed herself from consideration but did not offer an explanation. “We accept her withdrawal and look forward to putting forth another nominee,” Huston said.

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 Sgamma had criticized Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In a memo the day after the attack by supporters of Trump, 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 Sgamma was the reason for her withdrawal.

“Sad,” Bernhardt wrote on the social platform X, with a link to the article about Sgamma’s memo. “Self-inflicted.”

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 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,” said Taylor McKinnon, the Southwest director of the Center for Biological Diversity.

“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, deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, an environmental nonprofit organization, has criticized 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,” Weiss said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.