OPINION:
Of all the people President Biden could have nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), he chose a brazen eco-terrorist who also advocates for population control.
Biden’s nominee for the position of director of the BLM is a woman named Tracy Stone-Manning.
This is the same Tracy Stone-Manning who wrote a graduate student thesis for the University of Montana, titled “Into the heart of the beast. A case for environmental advertising,” in 1992.
Here are just a few of the deranged claims in her thesis:
“The origin of our [environmental] abuses is us. If there were fewer of us, we would have less impact.”
“We must consume less, and more importantly, we must breed fewer consuming humans.”
“It [Livestock grazing on public lands] is destroying the West.”
If those statements were not enough to disqualify Stone-Manning from running the very agency that is in charge of public lands, how about the fact that she was involved in eco-terrorism?
According to Sen. Dan Sullivan, Alaska Republican, “Tracy Stone-Manning was a member of Earth First!, a radical, far-left group that has engaged repeatedly in what is defined as ecoterrorism. But she wasn’t just a member of Earth First!; she herself was complicit in putting metal spikes — big, thick ones — in trees that were meant to either threaten to hurt or gravely injure those Americans who were harvesting trees, who were cutting down trees legally, who were putting trees in saw mills legally.”
Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, added, “Tracy Stone-Manning collaborated with eco-terrorists … She worked with extreme environmental activists who spiked trees, threatening the lives and livelihoods of loggers. While she was given immunity from prosecution to testify against her companions in court, her actions were disgraceful.”
Despite the overwhelming evidence of her radical views and eco-terrorist history, the Biden administration is doubling down on its defense of its nominee.
“Tracy Stone-Manning is a dedicated public servant who has years of experience and a proven track record of finding solutions and common ground when it comes to our public lands and waters. She is exceptionally qualified to be the next director of the Bureau of Land Management,” said a Biden administration spokesperson.
Obviously, that is far from the truth.
In reality, Ms. Stone-Manning would be the most radical BLM director ever, if her nomination is approved by the U.S. Senate in the coming weeks.
According to BLM’s website, the mission of the agency is to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations.”
Interestingly, Ms. Stone-Manning’s own actions and views do not comport with the executive agency she is being tasked to lead.
For example, her involvement in eco-terrorism certainly did not sustain the health, diversity, or productivity of public lands.
Moreover, her population control propaganda seems to be at odds with BLM’s mission statement of ensuring public lands are enjoyed by future generations. Based on her disdain for future generations, Ms. Stone-Manning seems incapable of fulfilling even the most basic functions of BLM’s charter.
Per the BLM website, the agency also professes “a strong history of ensuring opportunities for commercial, recreational, and conservation activities on public lands.” Does it matter that the person President Biden nominated to lead BLM has a lengthy track record of actions and statements in direct opposition to BLM’s own strong history? It sure should.
The bottom line is simple: Ms. Stone-Manning is both unqualified and unfit for the position of director of the Bureau of Land Management.
It would behoove the Biden administration to cut its losses at this point, admit its mistake, and nominate someone who actually meets the criteria for one of the most influential positions in the federal government.
Unless and until that happens, we will have to hold out hope that enough senators decide to not vote in favor of nominating Ms. Stone-Manning to a position for which she is woefully incapable of fulfilling at the most basic level.
• Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is senior editor at The Heartland Institute.
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