NEW: Trump’s BLM Director Nominee “Selloff Steve” Pearce’s Inadequate And Disqualifying Ethics Agreement
Conflicted Public Land Sell Off Advocate “Selloff Steve” Pearce Caught Maintaining Close Ties to Oil and Gas Business
HELENA, MT – This week, just after we learned how Karen Budd-Falen, the number three official at the Interior Department, made a cool $3.5 million after the Trump administration fast-tracked a lithium mine, we received confirmation that “Selloff Steve” Pearce, Donald Trump’s handpicked nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, plans to maintain his decades-long ties to and family business servicing the oil and gas industry according to his recently released ethics agreement.
Pearce has made it clear he plans to push for public land sell offs and will assuredly sell them out to oil, gas, and mining special interests, and the White House confirmed he’d be doing just that if confirmed as BLM Director. Based on Pearce’s ethics disclosure and agreement, he would be doing the bidding of the oil and gas industry to benefit himself and his family. Senators and members of the Senate Stewardship caucus will soon face a critical test: whether to confirm a nominee who will maintain numerous financial ties to special interests he’ll be regulating, and who would undoubtedly use this new position to profit from exploiting our outdoor heritage. Between his oil and gas business interests and oil leases, he made upwards of $1 million last year.
In response to the release of Pearce’s ethics agreement, Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill issued the following statement:
“It’s abundantly clear Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is openly sanctioning corruption at taxpayers’ expense. ‘Selloff Steve’ Pearce’s conflicts of interest and inadequate ethics agreement is disqualifying. Any member of the U.S. Senate who values our public lands, outdoor heritage, and opposes corruption must reject Pearce’s nomination.”
Read more below:
E&E News: BLM director nominee pledges to sever oil ties if confirmed
President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management earned as much as $1 million last year from a business often associated with oil and gas development and owned interests in oil leases in two states, a connection to the industry that has already drawn sharp criticism from Democrats and conservation groups that have questioned his track record in Congress.
Steve Pearce — nominated in November to be the BLM director — reported that he earned between $100,000 to $1 million in “Industrial equipment (Frac tanks lease to purchase),” according to a financial disclosure form signed in October that covers the past year. Frac tanks typically look like shipping containers and are often used to hold liquid associated with the fracking process, although they can be used by other industries.
The documents provide the most detailed financial information on Pearce’s business dealings since 2019, when he last filed a disclosure form as an outgoing seven-term Republican congressman from New Mexico.
Pearce could not be reached for comment. The White House touted Pearce as a nominee who will be able to implement Trump’s priority to ramp up oil and gas development on public lands.
“President Trump was elected with an overwhelming mandate to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ and unleash America’s energy potential,” according to Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson. "It’s totally logical that nominees like Steve Pearce, who is highly qualified to lead the Bureau of Land Management, would align with the agenda the President was elected to implement and have a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter.”
A decorated Air Force combat pilot, Pearce was a champion for the oil and gas industry in Congress, and his long ties to the industry have remained in place since leaving elected office after a failed run for New Mexico governor in 2018.
Pearce and his wife founded Lea Fishing Tools — an oil and natural gas drilling services company — in his hometown of Hobbs. They sold the company, apparently for $12 million, in 2003, according to a report in Roll Call.
Pearce, who served two stints in the House representing a southeast New Mexico district from 2003 to 2009 and again from 2011 to 2019, was a staunch ally of the oil industry — and maintained a financial connection to oil-field services while in office even after selling Lea Fishing Tools, according to disclosure forms filed with Congress.
Pearce’s past and current financial ties to the industry are likely to be a source of sharp questioning from Democrats, including Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), an ENR Committee member who has already stated he will oppose Pearce’s nomination, in part, because of his advocacy while in Congress to open more public lands for oil and gas leasing and sell some lands.
The document states that Steve and Cynthia Pearce co-own Trinity Industries in Hobbs, New Mexico.
The documents do not report how much money the Pearces’ leases have generated.
The Pearces also earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock investments with companies as diverse as Walmart, Amazon, Costco, The Home Depot and Microsoft, as well as annual interest on dozens of bonds.
To speak with Save Our Parks spokesperson Jayson O’Neill, email jayson@focalpointstrategygroup.com.
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