Sen. Lee denounces Biden BLM nominee, calls her unfit to lead agency
Jul 19, 2021, 3:36 PM | Updated: Jul 20, 2021, 11:08 am
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has joined other senators voicing concern over Tracy Stone-Manning, the nominee of President Joe Biden to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Over the weekend, Lee appeared on Fox News to say he opposes Stone-Manning’s nomination.
Tracy Stone-Manning should not be entrusted with caring for almost 250 million acres of federal land. pic.twitter.com/g5rRWjOIUv
— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) July 17, 2021
“We can’t allow this nominee to be confirmed,” Lee said.
“It should have been enough that she engaged in reprehensible behavior,” Lee said, “conspiring with criminals to make vile threats. But she also lied to the Senate about her involvement in that.”
Lee joined Dave and Dujanovic to discuss this topic on Monday. Listen below.
Lee: Biden BLM nominee connected to tree-spiking plot
In 1989, Stone-Manning, at age 23, sent a letter to federal officials warning that trees in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest had been spiked. “Spiked” trees include a nail or metal/ceramic rod inserted near the trunk or somewhere else in the body of the tree, to intentionally cause harm to a logger or sawmill employee.
Citing federal archives it had accessed, the Associated Press reported the letter was threatening and laced with profanity.
Stone-Manning faced no criminal charges at that time, but in 1993 she did testify against two friends later convicted in the case, the AP reported.
Senators raise concerns over BLM nominee
Based on this past issue, in June, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., raised concern over Manning’s nomination, noting what he called her “collaboration with extreme environmental activists.”
Barrasso is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. He said during Stone-Manning’s nomination hearing on June 8 that, based on her record, she did not support the BLM’s multi-use mandate.
That mandate establishes that public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management possess many resources; therefore those public lands have many uses including grazing, recreation, mining, etc.
“The Bureau of Land Management … has a huge amount of control over the entire western United States where there is a lot of public land,” Lee told Fox News. “We can’t allow this nominee to be confirmed.”
Stone-Manning did not yet respond to the concerns about her or her nomination.
