President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated former New Mexico congressman Steve Pearce to run the Bureau of Land Management, picking a staunch ally who has peddled election conspiracy theories and opposed public lands protections to manage hundreds of millions of acres of federal land.
Pearce, who is 78 years old and last held public office in 2018, has a long history of opposing the expansion of national monuments and has advocated for drilling in the Otero Mesa, one of the country’s most ecologically sensitive and diverse landscapes.
During his time in Congress, Pearce pushed legislation that would limit the Antiquities Act — the law that gives the president sweeping power to protect federal lands — to prevent presidents from using it to unilaterally create large national monuments.