January 20, 2026
|
The Honorable Mike Lee |
The Honorable Martin Heinrich |
Re: Oppose the Nomination of Stevan Pearce for Director of the Bureau of Land Management
Dear Chairman Lee and Ranking Member Heinrich,
On behalf of our 154 organizations and our millions of members and supporters, we write to strongly urge you to oppose the nomination of Stevan Pearce to be the Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Mr. Pearce’s record in Congress, including his public support for selling off America’s public lands, his conflicts of interest with the oil and gas industry, and his efforts to undermine national monuments and the Antiquities Act, demonstrates that he is the wrong candidate to lead this complex multiple-use agency.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) manages vast public resources—245 million acres of land and 700 million acres of mineral estate—under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act’s (FLPMA) mandate of “multiple-use and sustained yield”. This mandate requires the Director to balance competing demands, from fossil fuel production to conservation and recreation. An effective Director must be a neutral arbiter of these diverse public interests.
As the recent budget reconciliation debate proved, there is clear bipartisan support in Congress, and throughout America1Vast Majority of Americans Oppose Selling or Closing Public Lands, New Poll and Report Reveal, Trust for Public Land, April 16, 2025 for keeping public lands in public hands and for preventing the sale of these lands. Mr. Pearce stands contrary to these shared values. Since as early as 2012 when he said he wanted to “reverse this trend of public ownership of [public] lands2GOP Rep Promises To ‘Reverse This Trend of Public Ownership Of Lands,” ThinkProgress, October 9, 2012,” he has been a vocal supporter of selling off public lands. The Senate cannot entrust the stewardship of our public lands to someone who has clearly, publicly, demonstrated his desire to sell them off. Doing so would be a direct violation of the public trust, and in direct conflict with commitments made by several members of this Committee to keep public lands in public hands.
Additionally, Mr. Pearce, previously the owner of an oilfield services company3“Pearce Made Millions on Sale,” Roll Call, April 28, 2008, demonstrated throughout his career in Congress that he is anything but a neutral arbiter. Mr. Pearce has championed the oil and gas industry’s unfettered drilling and fracking rights at the expense of Americans’ access to public lands. A nominee with a conflict of interest stemming from his personal stake in the oil and gas industry cannot adequately represent the broader mission of the BLM, risks prioritizing a single use over the sustained health and productivity of the land for future generations, and will undermine public access for outdoor recreation.
Finally, Mr. Pearce spent much of his tenure in Congress undermining the protection of public lands managed by the BLM, including those within New Mexico, and the bedrock environmental laws that enable their protection. In 2017, Mr. Pearce asked then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to recommend that Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in New Mexico be reduced by 88 percent4Organ Mountains National Monument Protects Prime Acreage for Future Generations, Sen. Martin Heinrich, July 9, 2017, despite the overwhelming public support in New Mexico for preserving national monuments52025 Conservation in the West Poll, Colorado College, February 19, 2025 and the fact that the monument has been a significant economic driver in the congressional district he used to represent62023 OMDP Business Report, Las Cruces Green Chamber of Commerce, September 13, 2023. He also was an original cosponsor of legislation that sought to undermine the Antiquities Act7National Monument Designation Transparency and Accountability Act, H.R. 2284, 115th Congress, a critical conservation tool used by presidents of both parties for over a century to protect landscapes worthy of conservation for their historic, scientific, cultural, and natural values.
The nomination of Stevan Pearce to head the BLM is an unambiguous statement from the Trump administration: the agency will prioritize the fossil fuel industry over local communities. Under his leadership, the concept of “multiple-use” will be narrowed to extractive purposes only, eliminating room for recreation and conservation. His priorities will center on selling off public lands instead of preserving them for future generations. We urge you to reject this nomination unequivocally.
Sincerely,
Accountable.US/Accountable.NOW
Alaska Wilderness League
Aldos Silver City Chapter of Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance
Amargosa Conservancy
Archaeology Southwest
AZ(LAND) Fund
Bark for Mt Hood
Birds of Prey NCA Partnership
BLU Educational Foundation
Bozeman Birders
CactusToCloud Institute
California Environmental Voters
Californians for Western Wilderness
CalWild
Carrizo Plain Conservancy
Center for Biological Diversity
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Citizens Caring for the Future
Climate Hawks Vote
Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Colorado Native Plant Society
Colorado Wild Public Lands
Colorado Wildlands Project
Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas (COFEM)
Conservation Colorado
Conservation Lands Foundation
Conservation Voters New Mexico
DamDol Ent.
Dolores River Boating Advocates
Earth Ethics, Inc.
Earthjustice Action
EDF Action
Endangered Habitats League
Environmental Protection Information Center
Friends of Agua Fria National Monument
Friends of Avi Kwa Ame National Monument
Friends of Basin & Range National Monument
Friends of Big Morongo Canyon Preserve
Friends of Black Rock-High Rock
Friends of Browns Canyon
Friends of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument
Friends of Deschutes and Crooked Rivers
Friends of Gold Butte
Friends of Headwaters Forest Reserve
Friends of Ironwood Forest
Friends of Nevada Wilderness
Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks
Friends of Point Arena Stornetta Lands
Friends of Red Rock Canyon
Friends of Rio Grande del Norte
Friends of the Amargosa Basin
Friends of the Dunes
Friends of the Earth US
Friends of the Inyo
Friends of the Lost Coast
Friends of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks
Friends of the Owyhee
Friends of the Sonoran Desert
Gallatin Wildlife Association
Gila Native Plant Society
Gila Resources Information Project
Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners
Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance
Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Greater Yellowstone Coalition
GreenLatinos
Heart of the Gila
Heart of the Wild Equine Rescue
Idaho Conservation League
In Defense of Animals
Inland Ocean Coalition
Islanders for the San Juan Islands National Monument
Kettle Range Conservation Group
Kids for Saving Earth
King Range Alliance
Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center
Latino Outdoors
League of Conservation Voters
Living Desert Alliance
Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust
Los Padres ForestWatch
Mason County Climate Justice
Mattole Restoration Council
Minnesota Division Izaak Walton League of America
Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund
Montana Wildlife Federation
Mount Shasta Bioregional Ecology Center
Mountain Mamas
Mtn Bio
Native American Land Conservancy
Native Plant Society of New Mexico
Native Voters Alliance NV
Natural Resources Defense Council
Nature for All
Nevada Conservation League
New Mexico Wild
Northern California Council, Fly Fishers International
Nuestra Tierra
Ocean Conservation Research
Oregon League of Conservation Voters
Oregon Natural Desert Association
Oregon Wild
Outward Bound Adventures
People & Pollinators Action Network
Protect Our Winters
Public Citizen
Resource Renewal Institute
Return Strong!
Rio Grande Valley Broadband of the Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Rocky Mountain Wild
San Juan Citizens Alliance
San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council
San Pedro 100
Save Our Parks
Save Red Rock
Sheep Mountain Alliance
Sierra Club
Silvix Resources
Siskiyou Crest Coalition
Soda Mountain Wilderness Council
South San Juan Chapter-Great Old Broads for Wilderness
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Southwest Colorado Canyons Alliance
Spokane Audubon Society
Standing Trees
Sweet Grass Advocacy for North American Equines
The Ocean Project
The Wilderness Society
Trail Access Project
Trinidad Coastal Land Trust
Tuleyome
Umpqua Watersheds
UnchainedTV
Upper Gila Watershed Alliance
Vet Voice Foundation
Washington Wild
Western Colorado Alliance
Western Slope Conservation Center
Western Watersheds Project
Wild Arizona
Wild Connections
Wild Hope
Wild Montana
WildEarth Guardians
Wilderness Workshop
Winter Wildlands Alliance
Wyoming Interfaith Network
Wyoming Outdoor Council
Wyoming Wilderness Association
Wyoming Wildlife Advocates