Western congressional Republicans want Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning to recuse herself from policy decisions over the next month, citing potential conflicts of interest after her recent announcement that she plans to join the Wilderness Society in February.
The 25 Republicans from both chambers of Congress, in a letter sent this week to Heather Gottry, director of Interior’s Departmental Ethics Office, wrote that they are “strongly concerned about the conflict of interest that has arisen” by Stone-Manning’s announcement last month that she has agreed to become president of the national conservation group after she leaves BLM early next year.
They asked Gottry to “immediately identify conflicts of interest like this throughout the Department and advise the BLM Director and others to recuse themselves from any pending business the agency is set to approve” before President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
Stone-Manning has not said publicly when she plans to step down as BLM director.
