President Trump has nominated former New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce to continue the administration’s attacks on public lands as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Pearce is uniquely unqualified to hold this position.

Click here to tell your senators to oppose Steve Pearce as BLM Director.

Here are some examples of what Pearce stands for:

• He supports selling off public lands. While in Congress, Pearce led a failed effort to sell off federal public lands, going so far as to suggest that “we do not even need” most of these lands. With Utah Senator Mike Lee using his position as the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to push public land sell-offs, appointing Steve Pearce as BLM Director would add fuel to this radical, misguided, and enormously unpopular effort.
  
• He prioritizes resource extraction over conservation. Pearce has long championed the oil and gas industry’s unrestrained drilling and fracking rights at the expense of Americans’ access to public lands. We need to be doing everything we can as a nation to turn the corner on polluting fossil fuels, but Pearce would double down on the Trump administration’s efforts to promote those dirty fuels.
  
• He opposes the Antiquities Act and national monument designations. In 2017, Pearce pushed to reduce the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument by more than 80% and was an original cosponsor of legislation that would undermine the Antiquities Act—bedrock legislation used by presidents from both parties to protect deserving and irreplaceable scientific and cultural resources. If the Senate were to confirm Pearce as BLM Director, there’s no doubt that Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments would be at significant risk.

With Pearce at the helm, the BLM will be focused on expanding the fossil fuel industry’s access to public lands at the expense of the health and well-being of local communities. At the same time, Pearce will work to sell off public lands to the highest bidders, preventing public access to popular picnicking, camping, and hiking destinations.