Trump's pick to manage 245M acres notoriously hellbent on selling public lands

"On Nov. 5, Trump nominated former U.S. Representative Steve Pearce (R-New Mexico) to be the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, the agency responsible for 245 million acres of public land and 700 million acres of underground mineral estate, most of which is located in the western U.S. Pearce served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009, then again from 2011 to 2019. During that time, he became known for his efforts to privatize public land."

"In a 2012 speech to Mitt Romney supporters, he criticized what he called Teddy Roosevelt's "big ideas of big forests and big national parks" in the American West, and asserted that Romney's election would "reverse this trend of public ownership of lands." Later that year, he co-authored a letter to Congress that pushed for selling public lands to oil and gas drilling in order to offset an Obama-era government spending deficit."

On Nov. 5, Trump nominated former U.S. Representative Steve Pearce to serve as Director of the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees 245 million acres of public land and 700 million acres of underground mineral estate. Pearce represented New Mexico in the U.S. House from 2003–2009 and 2011–2019 and pursued efforts to privatize public land. He criticized Roosevelt-era public lands, urged selling public lands to offset budget deficits, co-sponsored the HEARD Act to dispose of federal lands, sought reduction of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, and backed limits on the Antiquities Act, prompting concern from environmental advocates.

Read at SFGATE