The Bureau of Land Management announced Tuesday that it has hired a senior official to oversee energy development on federal lands after a nearly yearlong search.
David Rosenkrance is expected to start next month as the bureau’s assistant director of energy, minerals and realty management — a high-profile post that oversees BLM’s work on oil and gas, mining, and minerals development, as well as the review and granting of rights-of-way permits for large-scale solar and wind projects on public lands.
Rosenkrance is the first permanent assistant director for the program since May 2023, when Nicholas Douglas, who was appointed to the post in 2019 as the Trump administration began moving BLM’s national headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado, retired. The job location has since been moved back to Washington by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
Ben Gruber, the energy, minerals and realty management program’s deputy assistant director, has been serving as acting assistant director since November. It’s not clear whether Gruber will return to his previous post.
