Overview
- The Senate confirmed Steve Pearce on Monday in a 46-43 vote to run the Bureau of Land Management, the Interior Department agency that oversees vast public lands.
- Republican leaders set up an en bloc vote on 49 energy and environment nominees after procedural votes cleared the path under newly adopted rules.
- Democrats opposed Pearce over his long ties to oil and gas interests and his past support for selling some public lands.
- At his confirmation hearing, Pearce promised to give local communities a bigger voice in decisions and said the agency must balance grazing, mining, drilling, and conservation.
- The BLM manages about 10% of U.S. land and the mineral rights under hundreds of millions of acres, so Pearce’s approach could shape where drilling, mining, and grazing go forward and how conservation plans are set.