BILLINGS, Mont. – President Joe Biden has nominated a longtime environmental advocate and Democratic aide to oversee the vast expanses of federally-owned land in western states — the latest political appointment raising concerns among Republicans as Biden moves to curtail energy production from public reserves.
Tracy Stone-Manning of Missoula, Montana was nominated on Thursday to direct the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management, which has jurisdiction over about a quarter-billion acres (100 million hectares) and one-third of the nation’s underground minerals, including huge reserves of oil, natural gas and coal.