{"id":7709,"date":"2026-05-19T04:03:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7709"},"modified":"2026-05-19T04:03:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:03:52","slug":"senate-confirms-trumps-pick-to-lead-federal-land-agency-as-drilling-and-mining-expand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7709","title":{"rendered":"Senate confirms Trump\u2019s pick to lead federal land agency as drilling and mining expand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MATTHEW BROWN<\/strong><\/p>\n

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) \u2014 The U.S. Senate confirmed President Donald Trump\u2019s pick to oversee the management of a quarter-billion acres of public lands on Monday, as the administration pushes ahead with more mining and drilling while reversing conservation plans.<\/p>\n

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Former congressman Steve Pearce will lead the Interior Department\u2019s Bureau of Land Management following Monday\u2019s 46-43 confirmation vote. Pearce\u2019s background as a Republican Party leader in New Mexico known for supporting public land leasing and industry made him a contentious pick. Democrats and environmental groups were strongly opposed.<\/p>\n

He attempted to assuage any fears during his February confirmation hearing by noting that he grew up on a family farm where conserving the land and water was a necessity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe security and economic health of the country, especially the western states, rests squarely with the BLM,\u201d he testified. \u201cWe can and must balance the different uses of public land. Local economies and future generations depend on us doing our job right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The land bureau has about 10,000 employees who manage roughly 10% of land in the U.S. It\u2019s also responsible for 700 million acres (283 million hectares) of underground minerals, including major reserves of oil, natural gas and coal.<\/p>\n

Trump and Republicans in Congress have been unraveling regulations from former President Joe Biden\u2019s administration that are viewed as burdensome to industry. They have opened millions of acres of public lands for mining and drilling and canceled land plans and conservation strategies formulated under Biden.<\/p>\n

The Democratic Party of New Mexico prior has called Pearce \u201can outright enemy of public lands,\u201d suggesting he\u2019s beholden to the oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

The Center for Western Priorities said Pearce\u2019s confirmation was part of a broad assault by Trump and Republicans on public lands, pointing to the recent cancellation of grazing rules and other changes.<\/p>\n

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Pearce, a former fighter pilot and Vietnam War veteran, served seven terms in the U.S. House representing a district that spans oil fields, including portions of the Permian Basin and vast tracts of other public land.<\/p>\n

He had a conservative voting record and advocated for ranchers when parts of Lincoln National Forest were closed to protect the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.<\/p>\n

Pearce has said that his time in Congress and his visits to constituents showed him that the federal government had become what he called an absentee landlord. Instead of partnering with states and local communities on land management, he said the government was ruling over them.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

As director, he vowed he would ensure local input would be part of his decision-making process.<\/p>\n

While in Congress, Pearce urged the U.S. Interior Department to reduce the size of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument outside Las Cruces, New Mexico, as part of a nationwide review of monument designations during Trump\u2019s first term. He said a reduction would preserve traditional business enterprises on public lands. That earned him lasting ire from environmentalists who called for his nomination to be rejected.<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The vote to confirm Steve Pearce as head of the Bureau of Land Management came Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-facts","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSenate confirms Trump\u2019s pick to lead federal land agency as drilling and mining expand - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=7709\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senate confirms Trump\u2019s pick to lead federal land agency as drilling and mining expand - 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