"The Trump pick to lead the land management agency has ties to anti-government extremists"
"The Bureau of Land Management is the nation’s largest land manager, overseeing more than 245 million acres. Earlier this month, President Trump nominated former congressman Steve Pearce, who has spent his career undermining access to public lands, to lead the agency.
In response, conservation leaders around the country pulled no punches in their rejection of Pearce’s nomination to lead the BLM. They cite his anti-environmental record, a long and cozy relationship with the oil and gas industry, and his support for the selling of public land.
“Dangerous,” stated a post from the Center for Western Priorities, referring to his likely accession to lead the agency. “Uniquely unqualified,” wrote Scott Braden, the executive director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, of Pearce’s experience. The Wilderness Society simply said, “The public deserves better.”
Pearce has been a mainstay of New Mexico Republican politics for decades. Starting in the state House in 1997, he graduated to Congress in 2003 and served seven terms representing New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District. In that time, he amassed one of the worst environmental voting records in the House, earning a 4 percent score from the League of Conservation Voters. He ran twice for statewide office, as the GOP nominee for US senator in 2008 and governor in 2018. Both times, New Mexico voters handed him sweeping double-digit losses."
Advertisement 
