Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

President Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management failed to assuage Democratic concerns about his past support to sell public lands.

Steve Pearce, Trump's pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management, said he would not propose large-scale sales of public lands.

President Trump’s nominee, Steve Pearce, is a former New Mexico congressman and Vietnam War pilot. The opposition feels he could sell off public land.

The Trump administration wants to expand drilling on public lands, but oil and gas developers expressed zero interest in Thursday’s sale.

Senators characterized the agency’s decision-making process as “rigid” and “slow,” and said they want states to have a bigger role.

The Bureau of Land Management’s Public Lands Rule put conservation on equal footing with grazing and energy production. The Trump administration is trying to roll it back.

The One Big Beautiful Bill changed the leasing process for the BLM. Now, land in Colorado will be cheaper for operators to lease, and the agency will have less discretion over the terms of the agreements.

The Public Lands Rule allowed conservation to be managed as part of BLM's multiple-use mandate, along with other uses like mining and grazing. The Trump administration now says that rule doesn't pass muster.

The Public Lands Rule was among the Biden Administration's signature efforts to protect and restore Bureau of Land Management land in the face of climate change and increasing land fragmentation.

In an executive order earlier this year titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” President Trump directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to ensure monuments, memorials, statues and markers “do not contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.”