31 New Mexico Elected Officials in Southern New Mexico signed on to a letter urging the United States Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to reject Steve Pearce’s nomination to head the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is the largest federal land management agency, responsible for 250 million acres of land. The agency’s mission is to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of present and future generations.” Pearce is unfit to accomplish this mission with his long history of opposing land protections.
On November 5, 2025, President Trump nominated the former Representative of New Mexico’s Second Congressional District. Pearce is a known supporter of selling off and privatizing public lands. In a 2012 letter to Congressional House Leadership, Pearce urged congress to “divest the country’s vast amount of land holdings” to pay down the national debt. The officials who signed onto the opposition letter all reside in the district Pearce previously represented.
The letter, signed by 31 New Mexico elected officials highlight how Pearce is out-of-touch with the communities he served. People across southern New Mexico advocated strongly for the establishment of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks (OMDP) National Monument but Pearce opposed it entirely. Furthermore, he supported the shrinking of OMDP during the first Trump Administration, once again contradicting the majority of New Mexicans’ support for protected landscapes and national monuments.
“Southern New Mexico knows better than anyone else how wrong Steve Pearce is to lead the Bureau of Land Management,” said Patrick Nolan, Executive Director, Friends of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks. “He opposed the creation of the OMDP National Monument every step of the way. The monument has transformed our community in countless positive ways. His well documented support of public lands sell offs, fast tracking of oil and gas activity on public lands, and funding cuts to land management agencies should concern everyone who cares about our public lands. The Steve Pearce nomination is a reckless decision that will negatively impact communities across the west.”
