Pearce, a former southern New Mexico congressman and state GOP chair, won Senate confirmation Monday in a narrow party-line vote

Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico

This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.

The United States Senate on Monday voted 46-43 to confirm Republican Steve Pearce, a former New Mexico congressman, to lead the federal Bureau of Land Management agency. 

Pearce, who represented New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District from 2011 to 2019 and led the state Republican party for several terms, will now lead an agency that oversees 245 million acres of public lands — including for recreation, cattle grazing and extraction of oil and natural gas — at a time when President Donald Trump is increasingly seeking to expand domestic energy production and roll back environmental protections.

Before becoming a New Mexico congressman, Pearce founded an oil and gas company in southern New Mexico. He divested from multiple oil companies and related firms when he accepted President Donald Trump’s nomination last November.

The vote Monday marked the final, official confirmation for Pearce, along with 48 other nominees whom the Senate voted to confirm in a single vote. Last week, the Senate similarly voted by a narrow margin along party lines to advance Pearce’s nomination. 

The final vote Monday drew swift condemnation from environmental groups that pointed to Pearce’s record in Congress, including his co-sponsoring of bills undermining the Antiquities Act, which allows the president to designate national monuments, as well as his support of opening national forests to industry.

U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) voted against Pearce’s confirmation. In a statement Monday, he said he did so “because his record speaks for itself.” 

“The Bureau of Land Management stewards 13 million acres across New Mexico that support our outdoor recreation economy, ranchers, Tribal communities, and local economies,” he said. “New Mexico cannot afford a director who has spent his career working against them.”

Environmentalist organizations including the Mountain Pact, the Wilderness Society and the Center for Western Priorities also quickly denounced Pearce’s confirmation.

“Steve Pearce’s confirmation vote is yet another blatant attack on America’s public lands,” said Aaron Weiss, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities. “Congress has put a man who disdains federal land managers in charge of the BLM.”

U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) is the ranking member of the Senate’s Energy and Natural Resources Committee, which voted along party lines in early March to send Pearce’s nomination to the full Senate for confirmation. 

In a statement following Pearce’s confirmation, Heinrich said he would hold Pearce “accountable for following the rule of law, protecting our public lands, and honoring his confirmation hearing commitments.

“I also look forward to working with him to address orphan wells, which we both agree should be a priority for BLM,” Heinrich added.

Republican leaders in the New Mexico state Senate applauded Pearce’s confirmation in a statement following the vote Monday afternoon. 

“Steve Pearce enjoys vast experience in the oil and gas industry,” said state Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eunice), in the statement. “How reassuring to know that he will put his experience to work for the benefit of both New Mexico and our entire nation.”

Patrick Lohmann is a reporter for Source New Mexico.