"Steve Pearce, the White House’s second oil and gas-connected pick, is “not so sure” he’s changed."
"President Donald Trump’s controversial pick to head the Bureau of Land Management, Steve Pearce, offered contradictory explanations about his record of pushing for federal land sell-offs at his nomination hearing Wednesday.
Pearce, a longtime former Republican congressman from New Mexico, has faced broad backlash from environmental, conservation and hunting groups for his record of working to undermine public land protections and pushing land sales as a way to reduce the federal deficit. Faced with a volley of questions from critical senators on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Pearce refused to disavow that record, instead emphasizing that he would have limited power to do so as head of BLM.
“I’m not so sure that I’ve changed,” Pearce said when pressed by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) about his public land record."
SEE ALSO:
"Trump’s Pick to Manage Public Lands Pledges No Mass Sell-Off" (New York Times)
