NEWS
Senate confirms Steve Pearce as BLM director
Former NM congressman's nomination was jeered by public land advocates
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Former southern New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce, 78, was confirmed Monday as the first Senate-confirmed director of the Bureau of Land Management under President Donald Trump.
The final confirmation vote took place on the U.S. Senate floor in Washington, although there were premature reports of the confirmation a week ago based on a final procedural vote closing debate on a , including Pearce鈥檚.
The outcome was in little doubt, given Republicans鈥� majority in the Senate. The nominations were confirmed on a party-line vote of 46-43. New Mexico鈥檚 two senators, Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luj谩n, both Democrats, voted no.
In a statement issued after he cast his vote, Luj谩n said, 鈥淗is record makes it clear that he will not stand up for our public lands.鈥�
During Trump鈥檚 first term, from 2017 to 2021, the agency was led by five acting directors who were not confirmed by the Senate. Since Trump returned to the White House in 2025, two more acting directors preceded Pearce.
President Donald Trump nominated Pearce to the position in November.
鈥淪teve Pearce has spent decades fighting for the people of New Mexico, and there is no one better suited to understand the unique needs of our state, our industries, and our communities,鈥� state Republican chairwoman Amy Barela said in a statement last week.
Pearce was opposed by public land advocates and environmental groups alarmed by his record in Washington over several terms representing southern New Mexico鈥檚 2nd Congressional District, from 2003 to 2009 and again from 2011 until 2019. Pearce ran for governor in 2018.
Pearce lost his gubernatorial bid to Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, and was subsequently elected the New Mexico Republican Party chairman, a position he held until the end of 2024.
At the BLM, Pearce will be responsible for an agency overseeing some 245 million acres of public lands across the U.S., including 13.5 million acres in New Mexico plus 42 million acres of federal oil, natural gas and minerals within the state as well as 2,200 livestock grazing allotments. It also oversees management of national monuments and conservation areas.
The BLM is organized under the U.S. Department of the Interior, headed by Secretary Doug Burgum.
Royalties from oil and gas production on BLM-managed lands in New Mexico are a crucial share of New Mexico鈥檚 annual revenue, and permits to graze cattle on public land are a major priority for livestock producers.
鈥淗aving someone at the helm of this agency who is from New Mexico and values the relationship our citizens have with the land is critical for the long-term success of our farmers and ranchers,鈥� state Senate Minority Whip Pat Woods, R-Broadview, said last week.
Pearce is also known for having supported sell-offs of public land in the past and for opposing the designation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, which President Barack Obama established in 2014.
When Pearce appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee earlier this year, he acknowledged that the BLM does not have authority to sell off public lands in large quantities and said Burgum 鈥渄oes not visualize any large-scale sales of land.鈥�
鈥淧ublic lands belong to all of us, protecting wildlife, clean water and the freedom future generations deserve,鈥� the Wilderness Society said in a written statement. 鈥淕iven Steve Pearce鈥檚 record and performance before the committee, today鈥檚 confirmation raises troubling questions about whether those values will guide the Bureau of Land Management in the years ahead. He declined to clearly disavow past efforts to dispose of public lands, yet he has been entrusted with their stewardship.鈥�
The vote followed the Interior Department鈥檚 announcement a week ago that it would BLM鈥檚 Biden-era public land rule requiring land use decisions to consider conservation and potential development for mining, timber, grazing and other uses with equal weight, a move critics say will make millions of federal acres easier to deliver to extractive industries.
Pearce promised in to a federal ethics administrator that he would step down as president and board member of oil services company, Trinity Industries, upon confirmation, though his wife would continue to operate the business as president; and resign as managing member of two other Hobbs-based companies he jointly owns with his wife.
Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.
