Updated 4:17 p.m., April 10, 2025
Coloradan Kathleen Sgamma has withdrawn her nomination to head the Bureau of Land Management. The announcement came Thursday morning from Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah at the start of a committee hearing to discuss several nominees to public lands posts.
Later in the day, Sgamma posted on LinkedIn that she was honored to be nominated by President Donald Trump and will continue to be an advocate for public lands, but did not address why she withdrew.
"I also appreciate all the support I received from ranchers, sportsmen's and recreation groups, conservationists, tribes, states, counties, the energy, mining and timber industries, and many other stakeholders across the West. I remain committed to President Trump and his unleashing American energy agenda and ensuring multiple-use access for all," she wrote.
The White House issued only a brief statement on the situation. "We accept her withdrawal and look forward to putting forth another nominee," said spokesperson Liz Huston.
Sgamma leads the Western Energy Alliance, a Denver-based oil and gas industry group, but announced she was stepping down when she was nominated for the BLM post. No reason was given for her withdrawal. However, it was recently revealed that after President Trump's supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021, Sgamma wrote a highly critical memo to her organization.
“I’m disgusted by the violence witnessed yesterday and President Trump’s role in spreading misinformation that incited it. 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 the rulings of those very same judges on his number challenges,” she wrote in the memo, which was revealed Tuesday by the investigative outlet Documented.
Sgamma concluded that Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat provided “hope for a resurgence of sanity.”
In one of his first moves after being sworn in, President Donald Trump pardoned virtually all participants in the storming of the Capitol, and since then he has moved to punish those who opposed his false claims about the 2020 election, most recently by instructing the Justice Department to investigate two members of his last administration who defended the accuracy of the vote.
Sgamma helped author the section of the Project 2025 Mandate for Leadership. The policy guidebook called for reversing President Biden’s “war on fossil fuels” by ending regulations meant to slow climate change and restoring oil and gas leases on public lands. It also recommended that the federal government return BLM headquarters to Grand Junction, a move President Trump enacted in his first term before former President Biden reversed the decisions.
Sgamma has downplayed the role of fossil fuels in driving global warming. In 2015, she said oil and gas leasing on federal lands has an “infinitesimal impact on climate.” She also argued natural gas has provided “more climate benefits than wind and solar combined” by displacing coal-fired power plants.
In an interview with CPR News before her nomination, Sgamma said she saw the administration’s energy agenda as part of getting back to regular order.
“Moving forward with lease sales, moving forward with permitting on federal lands, moving forward with completing environmental analysis,” she said. “We would expect the Trump administration to move forward and get those leases issued and development proceeding on them.”
Sgamma added that Trump’s moves would “counterbalance the swing in one direction by the Biden Administration” into renewables such as wind and solar.
“They were promoted, over-promoted, during the Biden Administration,” she said.
Environmental groups were relieved to see Sgamma withdraw her nomination. Aaron Weiss, the deputy director for the Center of Western Priorities, said his organization was disappointed that Sgamma declined to release a list of Western Energy Alliance members before her hearing, which could have helped Congress evaluate any conflicts of interest.
He suspects, however, that her decision to affirm the 2020 election results sunk her nomination.
“We all know the one thing President Trump can’t stand is when people acknowledge that reality. It certainly seems that’s what has done her in,” Weiss said.
In response to the news of her withdrawal, GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd said in a statement, “Kathleen has always been an effective leader for the energy sector. I know she will continue to be a fierce advocate for the President’s energy dominance agenda, and I look forward to continuing to work with her.”
CPR’s Caitlyn Kim contributed reporting to this story.
