Bureau of Land Management director Tracy Stone-Manning has already lined up her post-Biden administration job: a cushy six-figure gig leading the Wilderness Society, an influential Washington, D.C.-based environmental nonprofit.
Stone-Manning was confirmed to lead the Interior Department subagency in September 2021 and has since implemented a wide range of climate-related policies rolling back resource development on public lands and, in many cases, outright shuttering fossil fuel production. Stone-Manning's actions at the Bureau of Land Management closely aligned with the Wilderness Society's priorities.
The Wilderness Society—which has raised more than $140 million for its climate-related work over the last three years—has advocated for a slate of left-wing environmental policies like banning all oil, gas, and coal development on public lands, and increasing "environmental justice" programs." Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, one of the nation's largest contributors to left-wing climate nonprofits, and his longtime deputy Molly McUsic both serve on the Wilderness Society's governing council.
Last week, the group announced that it would name Stone-Manning as its next president, effective February 2025, the Associated Press reported. According to tax filings, Jamie Williams, the Wilderness Society's most recent president, earned a salary of $438,404 while serving in the role in 2023.
The announcement came just days after the Bureau of Land Management finalized a broad ban on coal leasing in a region spanning northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana that produces more than 40 percent of the nation’s coal.
The Wilderness Society's decision to hire Stone-Manning is the latest example of the revolving door between the Biden-Harris administration and the anti-fossil fuel movement. Among other examples, former Biden-Harris climate czar John Kerry joined billionaire Tom Steyer's green energy investment firm shortly after leaving the administration, green energy company RWE announced in July that it had hired the Biden-Harris official who promoted offshore wind expansion within the administration to lead the company's offshore wind development, and two former Biden-Harris climate officials last year became board members for the Coalition for Green Capital, a green energy bankroller that this year received $5 billion from the Biden-Harris administration.
Stone-Manning's new gig also raises questions about her relationship with the Wilderness Society and other aligned interests while she was leading the Bureau of Land Management.
"Contrary to the claims of the Biden-Harris administration, it looks as though the revolving door between federal service and powerful special interests is spinning faster than ever," said Michael Chamberlain, the director of ethics watchdog Protect the Public's Trust.
"Ms. Stone-Manning’s move to lead the Wilderness Society is a shining example of the close relationship between Biden appointees and powerful special interests and of the federal government’s revolving door," he added.
Chamberlain also noted Stone-Manning's role in an alleged act of eco-terror, an incident that emerged as a major point of contention during her 2021 Senate confirmation. In July 2021, a retired federal investigator confirmed he investigated Stone-Manning's role in a late 1980s operation to spike trees in Idaho but that her lawyer negotiated immunity for her at the time.
"Tracy Stone-Manning appeared to misrepresent important aspects of her involvement in a dangerous eco-terrorism incident," Chamberlain said. "But that didn’t stop her from being confirmed and subsequently obtaining a golden ticket to the highest echelons of the environmental movement."
The Wilderness Society did not respond to requests for comment.
During her tenure at the Bureau of Land Management, Stone-Manning dramatically pared back leasing for oil and gas drilling on federal lands, hiked fees for fossil fuel companies with leases, issued resource management plans blocking future fossil fuel development across resource-rich areas nationwide, and crafted regulations opening the door for environmental groups to lease oil-rich lands for "conservation."
Those actions, in addition to the recent coal leasing ban in Wyoming and Montana, all received praise from the Wilderness Society. The group included the coal leasing ban in its list of the top conservation and lands victories of 2024.
In September, the group intervened in a lawsuit to help defend the Bureau of Land Management against the state of Alaska, which is challenging the legality of the agency's public lands rule allowing conservation leases.
"Tracy has been a thoughtful and powerful leader for the Bureau of Land Management at a critical moment, helping to reshape an organization that was damaged by a misguided relocation and imbalance of mission," Interior Department chief of staff Rachael Taylor said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon.
"Thanks to Tracy's ambitious direction and an incredible BLM team, we have restored balance to the management of our public lands, ensured Tribes have a role in co-managing their ancestral homelands, and charted a path for the development of renewable energy that limits conflict and promotes a clean energy future," Taylor continued.
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