Trump Nominates Steve Pearce to Lead Bureau of Land Management
President Donald Trump has nominated former New Mexico congressman Steve Pearce to head the Bureau of Land Management, the federal agency that oversees roughly 10 percent of United States land and extensive subsurface mineral rights. The nomination puts decisions on oil, gas, coal, renewables and grazing at the center of a confirmation fight that will affect San Juan County and other communities in the Four Corners region.
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated former New Mexico congressman Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management, a federal agency that administers about a quarter billion acres of surface land and 700 million acres of underground minerals. The agency oversees major reserves of oil, natural gas and coal, and its policies shape energy development, grazing, and renewable projects across Western states including the Four Corners region.
The nomination requires Senate confirmation and will determine whether the bureau shifts toward expanded fossil fuel production or continues policies that prioritize limiting drilling and mining while promoting renewable power. Under the Biden administration, former bureau director Tracy Stone Manning tightened controls on oil drilling and coal mining on federal lands and sought to expand renewable energy development as part of a strategy to curb climate change. The incoming director will set the agency direction for permitting, leasing and long term land management.
Steve Pearce is a Vietnam War veteran and former fighter pilot who later led an oil services company in New Mexico. He represented a district that included significant oil fields and extensive federally managed public land, serving seven terms in the United States House of Representatives after his first election in 2003. His tenure in Congress reflected a conservative voting record and a focus on ranching and extractive industry concerns. He advocated for ranchers when parts of Lincoln National Forest were closed to protect the endangered New Mexico meadow jumping mouse. Pearce later ran unsuccessfully for United States Senate and governor of New Mexico and served as chair of the state Republican Party. He has been a strong supporter of President Trump.
Local stakeholders in San Juan County are likely to watch the confirmation closely. The Bureau of Land Management controls leasing and permitting that directly affect oil and gas operations, coal interests, grazing allotments, and the siting of renewable energy projects. Decisions at the federal level influence local jobs, county revenues, and land use patterns in communities that rely on mineral development and ranching.
Livestock industry groups have expressed support for the nomination while environmental organizations have criticized it. The United States Senate process will determine Pearce’s authority to reshape policies that have swung sharply between administrations. For residents of San Juan County civic engagement during the confirmation process and monitoring of agency rule making will be a practical way to influence outcomes that touch property use, economic opportunity, and environmental protection.
The nomination underscores the broader political contest over federal land management in the West, and the result will have concrete implications for how public lands and mineral resources are balanced in the coming years.
