Former New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce could face a steep learning curve if he wins confirmation to be the next director of the Bureau of Land Management — at least if his answers to a Senate panel on Wednesday are any indication.
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Pearce was often short on details, highlighting that he isn’t up to speed on a lot of controversial issues — from BLM’s efforts to revoke a Biden-era methane waste rule to recent Interior Department policies that critics say are greatly hampering renewable energy development.
Pearce sought to showcase how he would run the agency, vowing to prioritize local input into virtually every public lands decision — a feat considering the agency oversees 245 million acres of land and 700 million acres of subsurface minerals — while also stating he has no plans to support the selling off of federal lands.
The hearing was also notable for what senators did not ask Pearce: There were no questions about the Trump administration’s drive to dramatically increase oil and gas drilling and mining activity on federal lands, or its recent moves to revoke signature Biden-era conservation policies.
In addition, senators did not question Pearce about his ethics agreement and financial disclosure documents that show Pearce has close financial ties to the oil and gas industry.
Pearce and his wife, Cynthia, have already divested interest from several oil and gas leases that they held a financial stake in within the Permian Basin in New Mexico. And Pearce committed in his ethics agreement that they would divest financial ties to more than 1,000 oil and gas leases in Oklahoma if he is confirmed as BLM director.
No more ‘absentee landlord’
Pearce did speak with apparent conviction Wednesday when addressing the roles of both local communities and Native American tribes in federal land management decisions.
Pearce said his seven terms as a Republican member of Congress taught him the value of listening to state and local government leaders, private landowners, farmers and ranchers.
“I traveled the district extensively, seeing firsthand the problems faced by my constituents, who like my parents, worked hard everyday trying to provide for their families,” he said. “I also saw what the Founding Fathers feared: A federal government acting as an absentee landlord, which instead of partnering with states and local communities rules over them.”
Pearce cited an incident he helped resolve while in Congress following a wildfire in southeast New Mexico that burned thousands of acres of Forest Service grazing land. The service, he said, assigned displaced ranchers to new grazing allotments as far away as Wyoming.
“The cost of trucking cattle that distance would have led to the extinction of small ranchers and the collapse of the local economy,” he said.
The nominee said his staff identified local allotments “that had not been grazed in years,” and asked the Forest Service to open them. After initially objecting, he said, the agency eventually did.
“The ranchers and the local economy survived,” he said.
Pearce went on to pledge to work with local officials in Wyoming to redo a controversial land-use plan that would withdraw nearly 1 million acres from oil and gas leasing, at the behest of Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming.
“Absolutely, senator,” Pearce said. “I think one of the more important elements of any plan is local input. Custom and culture is known by the people who live in an area, very seldom known by the people in Washington, and that is a strong commitment that I make.”
‘Not familiar’
Pearce skirted questions about other contentious issues, such as Interior’s effort to roll back a Biden-era regulation involving methane waste from drilling operations on federal lands.
BLM last year pushed back deadlines for oil and gas companies to comply with the rule, which charges oil companies royalties for venting the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere instead of using it as natural gas.
But Pearce told Colorado Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper during Wednesday’s hearing that he doesn’t know much about the Trump administration’s moves to revoke the rule.
This seemed to surprise Hickenlooper. “Would you support high standards in terms of methane waste prevention? Would you support that kind of public operation on public lands?” Hickenlooper asked.
Pearce did not answer the question, instead talking about efforts to capture large amounts of methane waste to power data centers.
“Well, of course, but I am talking about rolling back existing regulations,” Hickenlooper persisted.
Pearce again resisted a direct answer, stating: “I am not familiar with the reasons the administration is suggesting” for possibly revoking the rule. He added: “I don’t know that I could comment on that right now.”
During his last stint in Congress, Pearce himself worked on methane waste rules. He successfully sponsored spending bill amendments to block funds from being used to implement an Obama administration BLM rule imposing stronger limits on methane waste from natural gas wells.
‘Don’t know’
Senators also grilled Pearce about his views on the Trump administration’s policy requiring Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and his deputy to approve virtually every permitting action for solar and wind projects before they can advance. The solar industry asserts that the policy, rolled out in July, has dramatically slowed permitting of projects on federal lands.
Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, pressed Pearce about the stratagem, noting that the country is facing unprecedented increases in energy demand that are projected to worsen over the next 30 years.
“How are we going to get there by eliminating a significant source of energy from consideration?” King asked.
When Pearce could not answer, King appeared agitated.
“You’re going to be the head of public lands,” King said. “We’re talking about development on public lands. I presume somebody’s going to ask you your opinion: Do you think it’s a good idea to say we can do one kind of development on public lands and not another? And by the way, do you know if there’s any kind of legal authority for that kind of distinction?”
Pearce conceded: “I don’t know the rationale” for the policy, and “I don’t know the law regarding it.”
Nevada Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto also questioned Pearce on the restriction. Cortez Masto noted that solar energy in her state supports about 30,000 jobs, and that the Interior policy requiring Burgum’s review and approval of every permitting action “has essentially frozen all of our projects, and stopped solar in the state of Nevada.”
Pearce again pleaded ignorance. “I’m unfamiliar with the order. Frankly, I’ve had very little discussion with the secretary up to this point on any issue, and even less with the president. But I suspect that it’s a conversation that we will have. I’ll seek understanding and be working with you to get to your questions specifically on that,” he said.
National monuments
The Interior Department since last year evaluated potentially cutting the size of at least six national monuments in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Utah.
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) asked Pearce about the future of the Chuckwalla National Monument in California, while Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) pressed Pearce on the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument in Arizona. Both national monuments, designated by former President Joe Biden, are among the six under review.
Pearce told the senators he has no objections to the national monuments, and is not aware of any efforts to cut the size or eliminate them. He said the same for the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument in New Mexico, which is also under review.
But Heinrich noted long-running objections to then-President Barack Obama’s designation of the 496,000-acre monument in 2014, which Pearce himself opposed as a member of Congress. Heinrich noted local officials were concerned about his approach to the national monument, which BLM oversees.
“I very rarely look in the rearview mirror, and especially looking at this job and the amount of work ahead of us, I don’t anticipate us going back and reviewing that,” Pearce said.
He added: “There is too much ahead of us to get done to focus on things that have happened in the past. It’s been recognized and operating.”
Scott Streater can be reached on Signal at s_streater.80.
