|
Steve Pearce, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, has an alarming anti-public lands record. A new Westwise blog post from the Center for Western Priorities breaks down Pearce's record as a vocal supporter of attempts to sell off and privatize public land, gut the Antiquities Act, prioritize oil and gas drilling, and weaken the Endangered Species Act.
During his tenure in Congress, Representative Pearce earned his anti-public lands reputation by cosponsoring legislation to privatize public lands. One example is his cosponsorship in 2016 of the HEARD Act (H.R. 5836), which would have directed the Interior department and U.S. Forest Service to offer national public lands for sale or exchange to local governments and set deadlines for sales.
In a 2012 speech, Pearce promised to “reverse this trend of public ownership of lands” and turn them over to states or private entities. In another speech, he urged counties to “take control” of all the land within their boundaries, including national public lands, and reportedly praised counties in New Mexico and Oregon for “taking control,” including the Otero County, New Mexico sheriff who threatened to arrest any Forest Service staff interfering with the county’s logging on national forest land.
Nominating an avowed anti-public lands and sell-off advocate puts America’s public lands on the chopping block. By confirming Pearce to lead the BLM, Senator Lee would have a powerful ally to pursue more ill-fated attempts to sell America’s public lands to the highest bidder.
CWP's Westwise blog is moving to Substack
Westwise is joining the growing public lands conversation on Substack. Read more and subscribe there!
|
What the Trump administration did was take a really strident stance against this bipartisan conservation issue. The very common-sensical protection of a UNESCO World Heritage Site is made complicated by oil and gas operators.”
