WASHINGTON— President Trump today nominated Kathleen Sgamma to lead the Bureau of Land Management, which manages 245 million acres of public lands, 10% of the nation’s land area, and 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate.

“Kathleen Sgamma would be an unmitigated disaster for our public lands as head of Trump’s Bureau of Land Management,” said Taylor McKinnon, Southwest director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “She’s a fossil fuel industry hack with breathtaking disdain for environmental laws, endangered species, recreation or anything other than industry profits. It’s hard to imagine how Trump could give a bigger middle finger to America’s public lands. Everyone who treasures the outdoors should oppose her nomination. If Sgamma’s confirmed, we’ll fight her attacks on public lands and wildlife at every step.”

For nearly two decades as president of oil industry trade association Western Energy Alliance, Sgamma has deployed a near-ubiquitous campaign of administrative and legal attacks on federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, to maximize fossil fuel industry access to federal public land and prevent or undermine protections for land, clean air and water, and endangered species.