[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 129 (Thursday, July 22, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5034-S5035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   NOMINATION OF TRACY STONE-MANNING

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose the 
nomination of Tracy Stone-Manning to be the Director of the Bureau of 
Land Management.
  This morning, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 
on her nomination. Every Republican on the committee voted no. Before 
our business meeting was over, Senator Schumer came to this floor, to 
that desk, and he praised this nominee to the skies. President Biden 
and the Democrats have wrapped their arms around this nomination, and 
they won't let go.
  So the question is, Who is this nominee whom the Democrats are 
embracing and every Republican voted against? Well, Tracy Stone-Manning 
is a graduate student who collaborated with ecoterrorists. Now, these 
are people who hammered hundreds of metal spikes--500 pounds of metal 
spikes--into trees in our national forest in Idaho. This is the kind of 
metal spike that they used--10 inches long, very thick; 500 pounds of 
these into the national forest.
  Tree spiking involves nailing, hammering these rods into a tree. What 
happened? Why did they do that? Well, they want to stop progress in 
terms of logging. They want to stop progress in terms of firefighting. 
Because if a logger or a firefighter were to hit this rod with a chain 
saw, the chain saw would shatter. Devastating injuries have occurred as 
a result. If the saws used in timber mills or sawmills were to hit one 
of these as they are planing through the tree to produce boards, the 
entire blade shatters. It has been described to me by someone who has 
worked in one of these mills--it is like a hand grenade going off, 
damaging people all around in the vicinity. Well, the results can be 
fatal, and there are examples around the country where this has 
actually happened. Now, even the Washington Post has labeled tree 
spiking as ecoterrorism.
  Tracy Stone-Manning, as a member of a radical group, edited, typed, 
and then anonymously sent a profanity-laced letter threatening the U.S. 
Forest Service. Here are just a few quotes from the letter.
  She typed:

       You bastards go in there anyway and a lot of people could 
     get hurt.

  She typed:

       I would be more than willing to pay you a dollar for the 
     sale, but you would have to find me first and that could be 
     your WORST nightmare.

  This is the letter she typed to the U.S. Forest Service. She then 
mailed this threatening letter to the target of the tree spiking, and 
the target was the U.S. Forest Service.
  She and her circle were investigated. They were investigated for 
their involvement with this ring of ecoterrorists and this ecoterrorist 
attack that actually occurred to the U.S. forest. She was subpoenaed. 
She was ordered to give hair sampling, palm sampling, handwriting 
sampling, and fingerprint samples to the investigators.
  She knew full well who the tree spikers were, and she could have 
easily gone to the authorities to identify them. She didn't. She 
covered it up for 4 years. She refused to cooperate with investigators.
  Recently, within the last couple of months, Tracy Stone-Manning came 
before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. She came 
for her confirmation hearing. Since that hearing and the statements 
that she made to the committee and affidavit she swore under oath and 
signed,

[[Page S5035]]

since that time, in the last couple of months and more recently than 
that--actually last week in one case--several people involved in her 
original case have come forward to the press and to the committee to 
set the record straight from the record and the story that she told the 
committee at the time.
  So the lead investigator on this case wrote a letter to Chairman 
Manchin and to me. I am the ranking member on the committee. That 
investigator, who I will tell you has worked as a special criminal 
investigator for the U.S. Government for 28 years, has been a longtime 
member of the U.S. military, served in Vietnam, and retired as a 
criminal investigator because of death threats made to him and to his 
family by the group who worked on this ecoterrorism--he retired from 
that. But he wrote to the committee. He came forward, and he said that 
she was the nastiest of suspects. He said that not only did she have 
knowledge of the plan to spike the trees, he said she was one of the 
planners.

  He wrote to us and said:

       It became clear that Ms. Stone-Manning was an active member 
     of the original group that planned the spiking of the Post 
     Office Timber Sale.

  So there he is, a criminal investigator. Then just last week, one of 
the convicted tree spikers, one of the people who actually went to jail 
because of that--he came forward in an interview in the press. In an 
interview with E&E News, the convicted tree spiker confirmed that Tracy 
Stone-Manning knew of the plan to spike the trees, in his words, ``well 
in advance.''
  Now, according to the investigator's letter, Ms. Stone-Manning's lack 
of cooperation actually set back their initial investigation many 
years. Eventually, when she was identified and received an 
investigation target letter, she had to make a decision. The lead 
investigator said she only agreed to testify after she was caught and 
after her lawyer negotiated an immunity deal.
  Tracy Stone-Manning--she helped plan the tree spiking. She covered up 
for the terrorists and their activity for years. She refused to 
cooperate with authorities, and she only testified when she was caught 
and given immunity.
  After all this, she created a story and lied to our committee about 
the incident. On a sworn affidavit to her committee questionnaire, she 
said it was an alleged tree spiking and that she was not the subject of 
an investigation.
  I specifically asked her: Did you have personal knowledge of, 
participate in, or in any way directly or indirectly support activities 
associated with the spiking of trees in any forest during your 
lifetime? Her response under oath was no.
  Both the cop, the criminal investigator, and the criminal, the man 
who went to jail as the group went to jail for this--they both came 
forward after her hearing to say that Tracy Stone-Manning was lying to 
the Senate.
  Over the past 30 years, she has made contradictory statements about 
the ecoterrorist incident and the network. In 2013, she told a Montana 
State Senate committee that she was intimidated into sending the letter 
by a stranger. Yet, in courtroom testimony, she admitted that the tree 
spikers were her friends. She was one of the ring leaders of the group.
  There are many qualified Democrats who could run the Bureau of Land 
Management. Within the Federal Government, this is the group who 
oversees one-eighth of all the land in the United States. It is 
astonishing to me that Democrats are digging in to defend a proven liar 
and an ecoterrorist collaborator.
  So Senator Schumer came to the floor today and made it very clear 
that he is going to support this deeply flawed nominee. Will other 
Democrats do it as well? Will other Democrats who have millions of 
acres of BLM land in their States--will they join him?
  Things have certainly changed, and it is interesting what has 
happened to the Bureau of Land Management and the nominees, because 
President Obama's BLM Director, Bob Abbey, came forward. He said that 
her actions should disqualify her from leading this important Agency. 
We are talking about President Obama's Director of the Bureau of Land 
Management says her history and her past and her activities should 
disqualify her.
  One Biden administration official admitted to NBC News--this was in 
the last week--her nomination was described as ``a massive vetting 
failure''--``a massive vetting failure.''
  Now, there is going to be more to say about this nominee when an 
attempt is made to discharge her out of the committee, if they get to 
that point, a cloture vote on the floor, and again, a vote on 
confirmation. Lots to be said. More information will come out.
  It is just hard for me, as the ranking member of that committee, to 
imagine a nominee more disqualified than Tracy Stone-Manning. She has 
collaborated with ecoterrorists, she has lied to the Senate, and she 
continues to harbor truly extremist views that most Americans find 
reprehensible.
  I strongly oppose her nomination. I urge all of my colleagues to do 
the same. Tracy Stone-Manning is unfit to serve.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

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