The Senate narrowly confirmed President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management over fierce Republican opposition spurring from accusations of past affiliation with an “ecoterrorist” organization.
Tracy Stone-Manning was confirmed 50-45 on Thursday, with all Democrats voting to confirm and all present Republicans voting in opposition.
The confirmation comes after Biden nominated Stone-Manning, a senior adviser for the National Wildlife Federation, in April. GOP members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee accused her of being linked to an “ecoterrorist” organization years ago and deceiving the committee about it.
BIDEN NOMINEE ACCUSED BY GOP OF DECEPTION ABOUT INVOLVEMENT IN ‘ECOTERRORIST’ TREE SPIKING INCIDENT
Court documents from 1993 reveal Stone-Manning testified to mailing a letter to the U.S. Forest Service after an acquaintance committed “tree spiking,” the placement of metal rods, nails, or other materials into trees to sabotage logging operations. The letter threatened the agency not to sell the timber.
Stone-Manning denied having prior knowledge of the spiking but said she mailed the letter because she “wanted people to know those trees were spiked” to avoid injury.
Energy Committee ranking member John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, accused Stone-Manning of failing to disclose her involvement in criminal proceedings in the early 1990s over the tree spiking incident. He criticized her in particular for not disclosing that she received immunity to testify in the spiking case.
All 10 committee Republicans voted to oppose Stone-Manning in July, but the 10 Democrats voted to advance her nomination, setting her up for a vote by the full Senate.
“It is hard to imagine a nominee more unqualified than Tracy Stone-Manning,” Barrasso said at the time. “Her actions and her lies should cost her this nomination.”
Republicans rehashed their case against Stone-Manning in speeches Thursday ahead of the confirmation vote, with several bringing large nails like those used for tree spiking onto the Senate floor.
“The BLM director in Alaska is our landlord, and I don’t want an ecoterrorist as my state’s landlord,” Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan said.
Democrats fired back at the Republicans’ tactics, with Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, accusing the GOP of engaging in “character assassination like I’ve never seen before” against Stone-Manning.
“This is about Republicans in the Senate trying to make Joe Biden look bad,” Tester said.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Stone-Manning is set to take the BLM reins at a pivotal time for the Biden administration. The agency, which oversees approval for oil and gas leasing applications on federal lands, has a key role in administering Biden’s climate change agenda.
