President Donald Trump’s nominees to three posts that shape national energy policy and public lands management can expect stiff resistance at a hearing this week from Democrats opposed to the White House’s fossil-fuels-driven agenda.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing Wednesday gives lawmakers the opportunity to debate the merits of Steve Pearce for director of the Bureau of Land Management, Kyle Haustveit for Department of Energy undersecretary of energy and David LaCerte to remain on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
All three nominees are expected to face tough questions about their qualifications and track records. But Trump’s choice of Pearce to lead BLM, an agency he often tussled with as a seven-term Republican congressman, has drawn particular scrutiny.
His appearance before the committee Wednesday is likely to spark the same kind of partisan rift between lawmakers as his nomination has among conservation groups that oppose him, and the oil and gas, mining and ranching industries that strongly support him.
