President Donald Trump has nominated Kathleen Sgamma, head of the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, to be the next director of the Bureau of Land Management, according to the Congressional Record. The White House or Trump has yet to comment on the nomination, which requires Senate confirmation.

President Donald Trump has nominated a longtime oil and gas industry representative to oversee an agency that manages a quarter-billion acres of public land concentrated in western states.

If confirmed by the Senate, Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, would oversee management of approximately 245 million acres of surface lands.

The nominee, Kathleen Sgamma, has worked for nearly two decades on behalf of oil and gas companies in Western states.

The Trump administration has named Kathleen Sgamma, a vocal oil and gas advocate for Western states, to head up the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, which manages the use of the country's nearly 250 million acres of public lands.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Kathleen Sgamma would replace Tracy Stone-Manning as director of the agency tasked with managing natural resources, wildlife and recreation on 245 million acres of public land,

Kathleen Sgamma now leads the Denver-based oil and gas trade group Western Energy Alliance. Environmental groups are already heated up.

Kathleen Sgamma is president of the Colorado-based Western Energy Alliance, which has long pushed for greater access by the oil and gas industry to public lands.