President Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped a conservation critic and former oil industry executive to head up the federal agency that oversees the majority of public lands in the United States.
If approved, former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico will lead the Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for balancing conservation of public lands with human use, such as resource extraction and cattle grazing. Since January, the Trump administration has overwhelmingly prioritized the latter with the Department of the Interior—BLM’s parent agency—rapidly approving oil, gas and mining permits, including more than 600 new permits to drill on public lands since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, according to a recent analysis by the nonprofit Center for Western Priorities.
Environmental groups have spoken out vehemently against Pearce, who they say will threaten public lands and ramp up activities that fuel global warming.
A veteran and former owner of an oilfield services company, Pearce began his foray into politics as the U.S. representative for New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District from 2003 to 2009, then again from 2011 to 2019. Over his seven terms in the role, Pearce strongly advocated for ranchers and the oil and gas drilling sector, the latter of which donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns. Now, industry groups are rallying around Pearce’s nomination.
“Pearce’s experience makes him thoroughly qualified to lead the BLM and tackle the issues federal lands ranchers are facing,” Kaitlynn Glover with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association said in a statement. She also leads the Public Lands Council, which represents cattle and sheep ranchers with federal grazing permits.
Republican politicians from ranch- and oil-heavy states such as Montana and Wyoming echoed these sentiments.
“Steve’s leadership will be invaluable in managing our public lands and wisely stewarding our resources,” Senate Western Caucus Chair Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) said in a statement. “This nomination is a major win for Wyoming and the entire west, and I’m glad to see such a crucial role filled by someone so well qualified. I urge a swift confirmation.”
Meanwhile, conservation groups argue that Pearce is not fit to lead an agency that also manages some of the most ecologically sensitive lands in the country, open spaces that support clean water, clean air and wildlife. As a congressman, Pearce introduced or supported several public-lands bills that would have inhibited conservation, supported more climate-warming oil and gas operations and limited the power of the Antiquities Act, which gives the president authority to protect lands by designating them as national monuments.
In 2014, he opposed former President Barack Obama’s designation of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in New Mexico, which had widespread public support in the region. He has said that the monument, which fell within his district, was too large. The protected area is now a major driver of tourism and income for the local community of Las Cruces.
The nonprofit League of Conservation Voters, which tracks congressional voting records on environmental issues, gives Pearce a score of 4 percent—with 13 votes over his career that the group classified as pro-environment and more than 330 deemed anti-environment.
“Pearce’s entire political career has been dedicated to blocking Americans’ access to public lands while giving the oil and gas industry free rein to drill and frack anywhere they wanted,” Jennifer Rokala, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Western Priorities, said in a statement. “Congress should quickly reject this nomination and tell the president to pay attention to what voters overwhelmingly want—public lands that are protected and managed for our kids and grandkids.”
The nomination comes seven months after Trump’s former pick, Kathleen Sgamma, the head of an oil industry trade group, withdrew from consideration following reporting that she had privately criticized Trump in 2021.
The Trump Public Lands Agenda
Democratic politicians have also expressed concern over the Pearce nomination, including Deb Haaland, the former interior secretary under President Joe Biden, who called him a “dangerous choice.”
During her four-year tenure at the Interior Department, Haaland oversaw BLM’s operations and helped enact the 2024 Public Lands Rule, which placed conservation on equal footing with uses such as natural gas drilling, mining, ranching, grazing, timber production and recreation. In September the Trump administration declared its intent to rescind the rule.
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“In New Mexico we value our lands and waters, and we need a manager who would be a good steward. Steve Pearce however, has a record of threatening New Mexico’s public lands, putting profits over people, and neglecting the needs of our state,” Haaland, who is now running for New Mexico governor, said in a statement. “He is the wrong choice to serve in this role.”
Since Trump re-entered office in January, the administration has coordinated an aggressive rollback of environmental laws and policies in the United States in a push to ramp up extractive activities on public lands.
In July, the White House began the process of changing how the landmark National Environmental Policy Act is implemented across the federal government in a manner that allows the fast-tracking of fossil fuel, mining and other industrial projects. One of the first to benefit from these streamlined reviews is a gold mine project in Nevada, with far less opportunity for public comment on its permitting. Opponents fear the lack of review will threaten key aquifers and land for vulnerable animals such as the sage grouse.
Along with fast-tracking permits, the Trump administration is opening more lands for oil drilling, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Dan Ritzman, the director of conservation at the nonprofit Sierra Club, expects Pearce would run BLM in line with this pro-extractive agenda.
“Steve Pearce is right in line with the Trump’s administration’s vision that the most important use and the people that should have the most say in our public lands are oil and gas industry executives,” Ritzman said.
In a statement to Inside Climate News, the Trump administration doubled down on increasing oil and gas as a main goal.
“President Trump was elected with an overwhelming mandate to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ and unleash America’s energy potential,” said Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the White House. “It’s totally logical that his nominees would align with the agenda the President was elected to implement and have a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.”
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Kiley Price is a reporter at Inside Climate News, with a particular interest in wildlife, ocean health, food systems and climate change. She writes ICN’s “Today’s Climate” newsletter, which covers the most pressing environmental news each week.
She earned her master’s degree in science journalism at New York University, and her bachelor’s degree in biology at Wake Forest University. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Time, Scientific American and more. She is a former Pulitzer Reporting Fellow, during which she spent a month in Thailand covering the intersection between Buddhism and the country’s environmental movement.
