Washington, D.C – The Bureau of Land Management is responsible for managing 250 million acres of land. This includes overseeing forest management and logging, which is frightening given Biden Administration nominee Tracy Stone-Manning’s history of “tree-spiking,” a form of eco-terrorism that could wound or even kill loggers. In Georgia alone, the timber industry employs over 141,000 people, both directly and indirectly, and generates $36.5 billion in overall economic impact.
Stone-Manning’s nomination has been called a “massive vetting failure” by some in the Biden White House, and now the logging community is speaking out in force. On Monday, following a unanimous vote by their Board of Directors, the American Logging Council issued a scathing statement opposing Stone-Manning’s nomination. The Council, which represents 30 states including Georgia, pointed to her eco-terrorism past as a reason for their opposition:
“However, the nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning and the public information of her involvement in eco-terrorist tree spiking in the past is very disconcerting. Tree spiking is designed to damage equipment and potentially injure/kill loggers and mill workers. Those trees remain a hazard and threat to loggers today.”
Statement from NRSC Spokesman T.W. Arrighi: “The timber industry in Georgia is one of the biggest in the nation, yet Senator Raphael Warnock appears prepared to vote for a BLM nominee that actively committed eco-terrorism against that industry. How can any Georgian who depends on BLM to responsibly manage land feel confident in Tracy Stone-Manning’s judgment? Better yet, how can they be confident in Warnock’s job as Senator if he votes for a nominee that Georgian workers and businesses oppose?”
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