President Trump has named another industry lobbyist to lead the agency they had been working to influence for years on behalf of corporate interests.
Kathleen Sgamma is Trump’s pick to be director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), according to the Congressional Record. Since 2006, Sgamma has been the president of the Western Energy Alliance, a Colorado-based trade association that advocates for oil and gas companies in the American West.
The group, which says it represents “200 companies engaged in all aspects of environmentally responsible exploration and production of oil and natural gas across the West,” keeps its membership hidden, but according to an archived copy of its website, as of 2016 its members included smaller producers like Chippewa Resources and FourPoint Energy, as well as industry giants such as Occidental Petroleum and Chevron.
