8/27/21

New Mexico Democrats support Stone-Manning for BLM

In 2002 Tracy Stone-Manning lectured on the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act or NREPA at the University of Montana where she earned her Masters of Science in Environmental Studies. In 2007 she became an aide to Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) then ran the state’s Department of Environmental Quality and in 2014 she became chief of staff for Montana Governor Steve Bullock. As Director of the Clark Fork Coalition she guided dam removal and river cleanup and has been co-chair of Missoula's Open Space, Rivers and Farmland. 

She's currently the National Wildlife Federation’s senior adviser for conservation policy where she blasted the Trump Organization's acting director of the Bureau of Land Management for enabling the marauding Bundy clan to abuse public lands. Stone-Manning is President Joe Biden's choice to lead the BLM and if confirmed she will serve under Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. 

New Mexico’s Democratic congressional delegation is enthusiastic about Stone-Manning's service, Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan will vote for her confirmation but Yvette Herrell, a member of the Cherokee Nation and the Republican New Mexico Representative from District 2 supports Herr Trump's border wall and her stubborn refusal to defend President Biden's nominee has strained the ties to her Indigenous heritage. 

In the Second District the oil and gas industry left hundreds of orphan wells but even though New Mexico is flush with cash operators just walk away from them leaving the state and feds to do the work to cap them.
The Oil Conservation Division reviews all permits approved by the BLM. And while the state agency cannot revoke the permits, it can require additional conditions and restrictions. But the division’s staff is tiny: six people for the entire state, compared to 64 BLM employees checking applications in its Carlsbad office. [NM Drilling Permits Skyrocketed Under Trump]
If the Senate balks Joe should simply name Stone-Manning acting secretary.
"Westerners know that the only way to solve natural resources challenges is to work with people from all walks of life and with diverse perspectives,” Heinrich said. “Stone-Manning has worked with ranchers and conservation advocates, hunters and mountain bikers, and unions and Tribal leaders, making her well-suited to lead the BLM." The Colorado-based Center for Western Priorities said the administration of former-President Donald Trump damaged the agency by moving its headquarters to rural Grand Junction, Colorado, a move critics said was meant to reduce the agency’s influence and reduce staff as many in the former headquarters in Washington D.C. would likely not want to move almost 2,000 miles west. [BLM director nominee Tracy Stone-Manning splits party lines for New Mexico congresspeople]
David Treuer was born of a Holocaust survivor and Ojibwe mother. He wrote in The Atlantic that he believes that most land held in America's national parks should be remanded to Indigenous peoples but it's my view that much of the land held in the Bureau of Land Management and the Forest Service should also be part of that trust.
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