STATEMENT: Senate confirms Pearce as BLM director following mass exodus of BLM state directors
Center for Western Priorities
CONTACT
Kate Groetzinger, Communications Manager
Center for Western Priorities
ka...@westernpriorities.org
254-652-0067
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2026
Senate confirms Pearce as BLM director following mass exodus of BLM state directors
DENVER—The U.S. Senate confirmed former New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce as director of the Bureau of Land Management as part of a package vote on 49 presidential nominees today, May 18. The package passed 46-43. Pearce has a long history of obstructing federal land management and advocating for the transfer and privatization of public lands.
Pearce’s confirmation is part of a combined assault by Congress and the Trump administration on America’s public lands. The Trump administration has essentially hollowed out BLM’s senior leadership in recent weeks—only four out of 12 BLM state offices currently have permanent state directors, according to E&E News.
The Trump administration also recently proposed a rewrite of the BLM’s grazing rules and rescinded the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, otherwise known as the Public Lands Rule. Together, these changes will further erode the public's ability to have a say in how their public lands are managed and make it easier for Pearce and his allies to lease out and sell off public lands.
The Center for Western Priorities released the following statement from Executive Director Aaron Weiss:
“Steve Pearce's confirmation vote is yet another blatant attack on America's public lands. Congress has put a man who disdains federal land managers in charge of the BLM, just as the Trump administration has forced out much of BLM’s senior leadership. It will be even easier for Pearce to mismanage our public lands now that half of BLM state offices lack a state director.“It’s telling that Senate leadership had to package Pearce’s vote with nearly 50 other nominees in order to get him confirmed. We will not allow self-proclaimed pro-public lands senators to shirk responsibility for this vote. The Senate Stewardship Caucus had a chance to stop Pearce from becoming BLM director, and they failed.”
Learn more:
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Seven times “Sell-off Steve” tried to dispose of America’s public lands - Westwise
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Trump’s new pick to run the BLM has a history of working to sell off public land - Westwise
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Senior vacancies abound at BLM - E&E News
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Bureau Of Land Management Repeals Public Lands Rule - National Parks Traveler
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Trump admin jettisons public lands rule, eases grazing regulations - E&E News
For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. To speak with an expert on public lands, contact Kate Groetzinger at 254-652-0067 or ka...@westernpriorities.org. Sign up for Look West to get daily public lands and energy news sent to your inbox.
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The Center for Western Priorities is a conservation policy and advocacy organization focused on land and energy issues across the American West.
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