U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, displays the same kind of spike used in a 1989 tree-spiking incident involving Tracy Stone-Manning, President Joe Biden’s nominee to head up the Bureau of Land Management./ Image from Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee webcast.
By Jacob Fischler | Arizona Mirror
In a contentious meeting that distilled a weeks-long fight, the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee deadlocked 10-10 along party lines Thursday on approving Tracy Stone-Manning’s nomination as head of the Bureau of Land Management.
That means an extra procedural vote will be forced before the full U.S. Senate takes up the nomination of Stone-Manning, a Montanan and National Wildlife Federation senior adviser tied to a 1989 scheme to hammer spikes into trees in Idaho’s Clearwater National Forest.
But unless a Democrat splits off, it appears Stone-Manning will be confirmed, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote in a Senate divided 50-50 between the parties. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declared Thursday that Stone-Manning has his full support.
Prior to the committee vote, Republicans brandished metal spikes and leveled accusations as they continued to denounce Stone-Manning, a former high-ranking staffer for Montana Democrats, for her role in the tree-spiking case.
She has been nominated by President Joe Biden to lead an agency that manages 245 million acres of public lands and 700 million acres of mineral estate and plays a huge role in many Western states.
