Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., is the legislator to watch as the Senate prepares to vote on President Biden’s embattled nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Tracy Stone-Manning.
Stone-Manning has come under major scrutiny after it was revealed she traded court testimony for legal immunity in a case regarding a 1989 tree-spiking plot in Idaho, but Manchin – a key vote in the Senate – has been silent on her nomination
The senator’s office did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment on how Manchin plans to vote on Stone-Manning’s confirmation. A vote has not been scheduled but could happen as early as this weekStone-Manning’s nomination process revealed her involvement in a tree-spiking plot orchestrated by Earth First!, an ecoterrorist organization.
She testified in 1993, in exchange for immunity, that she retyped and sent an anonymous letter to the U.S. Forest Service on behalf of John P. Blount, her former roommate and friend. The letter told the Forest Service that 500 pounds of “spikes measuring 8 to 10 inches in length” had been jammed into the trees of an Idaho forest.
Tree-spiking is a dangerous and violent ecoterrorism tactic where metal rods are inserted into trees to prevent them from being cut down. The metal rods damage saws that, in turn, have severely injured people, such as a mill worker whose jaw was split in two from an exploding saw.
