Earlier this week the Trump administration nominated former New Mexico congressman Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 245 million acres of surface land and another 700 million acres of subsurface minerals.
The nomination follows the withdrawal of Trump’s first pick to lead the BLM. Oil executive Kathleen Sgamma withdrew from consideration in April after comments she made criticizing the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and Trump’s support of them became public.
If Pearce is confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first BLM director to be officially installed in either Trump administration. In Trump’s first administration, the nation’s largest land-management agency was led by temporary appointees.
While Pearce’s nomination is likely to sail through the Republican-led Senate, public-land advocates are planning a vigorous campaign to derail his nomination, or at least raise alarms that Pearce is philosophically opposed to many of the priorities outlined in the BLM’s mission. Among them, say his critics, is his congressional voting record against conservation and for oil and gas extraction on public lands. They even say he’s on the record supporting transfers of federal land to state or private interests.
A hiker explores the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in New Mexico. Photo by Bob Wick / BLM
That claim is based on comments, reported by the left-leaning Think Progress, that Pearce made in a 2012 speech to the Colorado Conservative Political Action Conference, while he was still a sitting congressman. In his remarks, Pearce suggested reversing “this trend of public ownership of lands” in order to give states more latitude to fund education.
Pearce ran unsuccessfully for governor of New Mexico following his 13-year congressional stint, during which time he served on the House Natural Resources Committee, which has oversight over the BLM. Pearce’s most recent public service role was as chairman of the New Mexico Republican Party.
“I’ll be honest, his nomination came as a complete surprise to me,” says Jesse Deubel, executive director of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation. “When I first heard the news I was blown away, not only because he’s been out of politics for a while but because he’s the New Mexico equivalent of Mike Lee [the Utah Senator who championed the sale of federal public land in this summer’s budget reconciliation process]. He’s as anti-public lands as you can find, which is really concerning, obviously, considering the role he’s about to be in.”
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The BLM is not only the nation’s largest land manager. It also follows a “multiple-use” mandate to manage its public land for all users, even those with competing impacts. An example is energy development, which can disproportionately impact wildlife habitat and recreational access. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who also chairs Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council, has pledged to use public lands to “unleash America’s energy dominance.”
Conservation groups were quick to denounce Pearce’s nomination, while oil-and-gas and livestock groups were just as eager to praise the choice.
Pearce’s congressional record is solidly in line with Republicans’ prioritization of oil and gas extraction, reduction of national monuments, and de-emphasis on the conservation values of public lands, according to voting records obtained through GovTrack. The League of Conservation Voters has given Pearce just a 4 percent lifetime score in support of conservation issues.
Among New Mexico’s conservation groups, he’s especially reviled for his opposition to the Organ Mountains National Monument outside Las Cruces, and then for advocating to reduce the size of the monument, which is popular with hikers and hunters, from 500,000 acres to just 60,000 acres.
Deubel noted that conservation groups will need to find some way to work with Pearce, assuming he’s confirmed.
“It will be a challenge because he’s on the record trying to shrink, eliminate, or stop monuments, and he’s on the record as trying to deteriorate the Antiquities Act and make it more difficult for residents of a state to designate national monuments,” he says. “On the other hand, I think we have a lot in common in terms of valuing our public land.”
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Deubel notes that the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and partners hosted a public rally in support of public land in June, as the budget reconciliation process was boiling and as Burgum attended the Western Governors Association meetings in Santa Fe.
“Thousands of people rallied in support of public lands last June, and a lot of them were wearing MAGA hats and Trump paraphernalia,” says Deubel. “I think that shows, at least in New Mexico where [Pearce] is from, that public lands aren’t a partisan issue.”
