Stevan Pearce, a former Republican congressman who represented the area around the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), was confirmed by the Senate last month to be director of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Pearce was among a large bloc of GOP nominees narrowly confirmed by the Senate 46-to-43 on May 18.
According to its website, “BLM manages one in every 10 acres of land in the United States, and approximately 30 percent of the Nation’s minerals.”
President Donald Trump nominated Pearce to the post on Jan. 13.
Pearce represented New Mexico’s 2nd congressional district first from 2003 through 2009 and again from 2011 through 2019, according to the Ballotpedia website. Pearce also ran and lost the 2018 governor’s election in New Mexico to Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), who currently holds the office.