The U.S. Senate confirmed Steve Pearce as BLM director, placing him in charge of 245 million acres of public lands.
Environmental groups strongly oppose his confirmation due to his history of advocating for selling or transferring public lands. - Pearce is a former oilfield services executive and congressman from New Mexico.
- He has long supported transferring federal lands to states or selling them. - The Center for Biological Diversity called the confirmation a handing over of public lands to extractive industries.
- Environmental groups had urged senators to reject Pearce, citing his record as antithetical to BLM's mission.