Lonnie named to head Alaska BLM office

Tom Lonnie has been named as the new director of the Bureau of Land Management’s Alaska state office, replacing Henri Bisson, who was named BLM’s deputy director for operations Sept. 14.

The appointment was announced Sept. 29 by BLM Director Kathleen Clarke.

Lonnie has been in Washington, D.C., as BLM’s assistant director for minerals, realty and resource protection since July 2003. In that position he oversees development of fluid minerals (such as oil and gas) and solid minerals (such as silver, copper and coal) and also leads BLM’s realty programs, including land exchanges, land transfers, rights of way and the cadastral (land ownership) survey. Lonnie also is responsible for programs that identify and respond to hazards and risks on public lands, such as abandoned mines.

Before coming to Washington, D.C., Lonnie, a native of Long Island N.Y., was acting state director of BLM’s Montana state office from August 2002 to January 2003. Prior to that he held numerous BLM positions in Montana and Wyoming, including acting associate state director in the Montana state office, where he was deputy state director for resources from April 1995 through July 2003. Lonnie participated on a 1987 national task force that worked on changes in federal oil and gas leasing regulations and led the investigation of the Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico in 2000.

He began his federal career in 1978 as a geologist. He earned a B.A. in geology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974 and an M.S. in geology from Adelphi University in New York in 1977.

Lonnie lives in Arlington, Va., and has three grown daughters.

—Petroleum News