By Rona Fried
Our previous article covered Trump’s “Environment” cabinet: the unqualified, corrupt OIL people who plan to destroy each agency: Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior, Department of Energy, and Department of Agriculture.
Now we look at the rest of his loyalists at the Bureau of Land Management (most of our public lands), Forest Service (the rest of our public lands) and Fish & Wildlife Service (Wildlife).
As you read this, remember the U.S. is the biggest producer of oil in the world, pumping out almost 22 million barrels a day – twice as much as Saudi Arabia!.
Kathleen Sgamma, Director of Bureau of Land Management (BLM – part of DOI): she’s a perfect pick to govern our 245 million acres of our public lands, plus the Gulf of Mexico and coastal waters!
Her qualifications? She’s the longtime president of Western Energy Alliance: an oil and gas trade lobbying group whose goal is to turn our public lands (and waters) into drilling sites. She will, of course, get rid of those pesky protections for wildlife. Goodbye wildlife and ecosystems!
She co-authored Project 2025’s chapter on energy policy. She’s ideologically opposed to anything that protects the environment and will oversee what happens to our country’s most imperiled wildlife – which depend on our public lands to literally survive.
Sgamma’s nomination is one of Trump’s big paybacks to the Fossil Industry for their record high campaign donations.
She’s already hard at work to get drilling going across 19 million acres of the Western Arctic and the Alaska National Wildlife Reserve (ANWR) – the largest single unit of public lands in the US. Biden protected those pristine lands from drilling.
Brian Nesvik, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS – part of BLM): until now, he’s been Director of Wyoming Game and Fish, one of the most anti-conservation agencies in the US. Now he’s in charge of the only federal agency solely dedicated to protecting endangered wildlife! Great pick!
FWS is in charge of the Endangered Species Act. It manages our 570 wildlife refuges, and works with local communities to safeguard ecosystems. No more!
Meanwhile, scientists that work to protect endangered species have been fired. Biologists that mitigate water pollution are fired, and experts that manage wildfire risks are fired – this will make it much easier for corporate interests to do whatever they want.
“From his first day in office, Donald Trump has made it clear that he views the Endangered Species Act as a roadblock to his pro-polluter agenda rather than a duty to uphold. If his goal is to put as many species on the brink of extinction as possible, he’s found the perfect candidate in Brian Nesvik. The anti-wildlife agenda the state of Wyoming has been pursuing for years is about to debut on the national level, and the most vulnerable species will suffer the consequences,” says Bradley Williams, Sierra Club’s Deputy Legislative Director of Wildlife and Lands Protection.
Forest Service (part of USDA): can you guess who will be in charge of our National Forests and Wilderness? Of course, timber lobbyist Tom Schultz! He’ll be in charge of our 189 million acres of national forests and 36.6 million acres of wilderness.
His former job was Vice President of Resources and Government Affairs at Idaho Forest Group – one of the biggest lumber producers in the US. Before that, he boosted mining on millions of acres as Director of Idaho’s Department of Lands.
“The timber industry is jumping for joy with this nomination. Let’s be clear, Tom Schultz is no outsider – he is the consummate logging industry insider, “ said Anna Medema, Sierra Club’s Associate Director of Legislative and Administrative Advocacy for Forests and Public Lands. “Naming a corporate lobbyist to run the agency tasked with overseeing the last old growth left in the U.S. makes it clear that the Trump administration’s goal isn’t to preserve our national forests, but to sell them off to billionaires and corporate polluters.”
Under President Biden, the Forest Service was charged with protecting old and mature forests. That’s gone!
Instead, we have a Trump executive order, “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” that opens every forest to logging. It sets an annual target for how much timber must be available for sale .. which means widespread clear-cutting (which hasn’t been done at all for many decades),
“This executive order sets in motion a chainsaw free-for-all on our federal forests. It opens the door for wild lands to be plundered, for nothing more than corporate gain. This will worsen the effects of climate change, while also destroying critical wildlife habitat,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, Senior Legislative Representative at Earthjustice’s Policy and Legislation team.
It will also pollute rivers and water supplies, and push endangered species closer to extinction. It will worsen wildfires by drying out forest floors, eliminating older and more fire-resistant trees, and disrupt ecosystems.
“With a stroke of a pen, Trump launched one of his most vicious attacks yet on the natural world. Taking chainsaws and axes to those forests will harm some 400 protected species, from grizzly bears to salmon. Wildlife on the brink need these forests to survive.
The public doesn’t want this. No one wants to see our beautiful public lands handed over to big business and razed. So far we’ve taken legal action nearly every three days against the most anti-wildlife administration in history. It’s our fastest pace ever — and exactly what’s needed to meet this moment,” said Kierán Suckling, Executive Director of Center for Biological Diversity.
Legislation that’s already passed the House would accomplish much the same thing. The “Fix our Forests Act: calls for dramatically expanded public lands logging. It supposedly protects our forests from fires, but it’s actually just an excuse for more logging.
Learn more and tell your Senators to VOTE NO on this horrible bill.
There are also two bills in the House that would end the Endangered Species Act altogether, our most effective law for wildlife. More on this in out next article.
Another Trump executive order prioritizes mining on our public lands. It makes mining a primary use of our public lands, directs agencies to list all lands with mineral deposits, and expedites approval of mining projects.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk believe Big Oil CEOs, billionaires, and corporate polluters should benefit from America’s public lands, not we the people. They get free rein to drill and pollute our iconic landscapes. Everyone else gets dirty air and polluted water. We will do everything in our power to stop the giveaway and preserve our wild and special places for the next generation.” said Ben Jealous, Executive Director of Sierra Club.
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Rona Fried, Ph.D. is CEO of SustainableBusiness.com. We’ve been online since 1996!
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