Walcher: Turn down the volume on the BLM

I met Steve Pearce several times when he was a congressman and always found him to be well informed, reasonable, and friendly — nothing like the demon portrayed by political opponents. He has deep roots in southeast New Mexico, where he grew up surrounded by BLM land, so he knows the agency well. He was a combat pilot in Vietnam, built an oilfield services business, and served 18 years in the state legislature and Congress as an outspoken advocate for rural perspectives. Some of the BLM staff will not agree with his views on every issue, but he is no novice on public lands.

The criticism is unnecessarily vitriolic, as we are sadly becoming accustomed to. Several environmental industry groups have already criticized Pearce’s confirmation, one calling it “part of a combined assault by Congress and the Trump administration on America’s public lands.” A common accusation is that the administration is “hollowing out BLM’s senior leadership” because eight of the 12 state office directors are “acting” and not permanently appointed. There is nothing unusual about that — six of those states had “acting” directors during the Biden administration, too. All 12 posts are temporarily filled by qualified career BLM leaders, so there is no management crisis.

Opponents are equally shrill about BLM rescinding the Biden-era “Conservation and Landscape Health Rule,” which federal courts had blocked as blatantly illegal. Under that scheme, the previous administration tried to lease federal lands to environmental groups to be used for no purpose at all. Except to block previous uses of the land that were authorized and directed by Congress.