Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance, at a Senate hearing. Michael Brochstein/ZUMA
This story was originally published on the Substack Public Domain, to which you can subscribe here.
Kathleen Sgamma, a longtime oil and gas activist, withdrew her nomination to lead the federal Bureau of Land Management hours before her confirmation hearing Thursday.
The move comes two days after a watchdog group surfaced private comments in which Sgamma condemned President Donald Trump’s actions during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) announced her withdrawal at the opening of Thursday’s meeting of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, where Sgamma was scheduled to testify and field questions.
“I was informed by the White House earlier today that one of the nominees scheduled for consideration at today’s hearing, Kathleen Sgamma, nominated to serve as the director of the Bureau of Land Management, has withdrawn from consideration,” Lee said.
Lee did not elaborate on her decision.
Earlier this week, Nick Surgey, the executive director of watchdog group Documented, circulated a private memo in which Sgamma blasted Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot.
“I am disgusted by the violence witnessed yesterday and President Trump’s role in spreading misinformation that incited it,” Sgamma wrote a day after the attack. “I’m disgusted he discredited all the good work he did reorienting the judiciary back toward respect for the rule of law and constitution by dishonoring the vote of the People and rulings of those very same judges on his numerous challenges.”
Those comments may have been her undoing. Shortly after Sgamma’s withdrawal, David Bernhardt, the Interior Secretary during Trump’s first term and a close ally of the President, posted on X: “2 years ago, in my book, I explained that individuals who know their views don’t align with the president, and yet seek political appointments hoping such divergence will not be noticed cause needless harm and conflict, hindering the president’s agenda. Sad. Self-inflicted.”
Sgamma is president of the Western Energy Alliance, a litigious oil and gas trade association. As Public Domain previously reported, Sgamma has argued that the federal government owns too much land and co-authored an energy section of Project 2025, the controversial policy blueprint that MAGA operatives compiled to guide Trump in a second term.
Public Domain attempted to reach Sgamma twice this week for comments about news developments, most recently on Thursday morning. In both cases, her email pinged back with an auto-response saying she had traveled to Washington for her confirmation hearing and was not available to respond.
In an email statement to Public Domain, White House spokesperson Liz Huston said, “We accept her withdrawal and look forward to putting forth another nominee.”
Thursday’s news comes as a big win for the environmental groups that opposed Sgamma, though it remains to be seen whether the Trump administration will nominate someone they find more palatable. More than 125 public land, climate and environmental advocacy groups sent a letter earlier this week urging senators to vote down Sgamma’s nomination, citing “inherent conflicts of interest.”
“Kathleen Sgamma’s entire career has been focused on handing over our public lands to oil and gas companies,” Athan Manuel, the Sierra Club’s lands protection program director, wrote in a statement Thursday. “Placing her at the top of BLM would have been a disaster, but withdrawing her nomination doesn’t change this administration’s top goal—selling off those public lands to fund tax cuts for billionaires … The American people have spoken loud and clear that our public lands are not for sale.”
