The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will vote this week on President Donald Trump’s pick for Bureau of Land Management director and other top administration posts, while also tackling a host of public lands legislation.
The panel plans to meet Wednesday on former Rep. Steve Pearce to lead the nation’s public lands overseer, Kyle Haustveit to be Department of Energy undersecretary and David LaCerte to remain on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
It’s unclear whether Pearce — an oil and gas champion who has in the past expressed support for selling public lands — will get any bipartisan support. Committee ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said on Sunday he would vote “no.” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) had already expressed his opposition.
Heinrich said in a statement Sunday that he was not swayed by the former seven-term Republican congressman’s testimony at a committee confirmation hearing last Wednesday.
