Only three months into 2026, the nomination of a new Bureau of Land Management (BLM) director and the repeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, which regulates greenhouse gas emissions, pose new threats to Western Slope public lands, as well as public health.
On Wednesday, March 4, former New Mexico Congressman Steve Pearce was controversially approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, by a narrow 11-9 party-line vote, to direct the Bureau of Land Management. Pearce, supported by President Trump, has historically advocated for the sale of public lands. Should Pearce receive a majority vote in the Senate, he will ascend to the role.
Conservation groups criticized Pearce following his nomination in November of 2025, dubbing him “Sell-Off” Steve due to his history advocating for the sale of public lands.
In 2012, Pearce co-authored a letter to then-House Speaker John Boehner to “dispose of unneeded land” in order to balance the deficit, similar to Utah Senator Mike Lee’s attempt last summer to work public lands sales into the Big Beautiful Bill.
“Over 90% of it is located in the Western states and most of it we do not even need,” he stated in the letter in reference to federally-owned land.
Carbondale-based nonprofit Wilderness Workshop strongly opposes the appointment of Pearce.
“‘Sell-off’ Steve Pearce’s confirmation would represent yet another insult to the best and highest uses of Colorado’s 22 million acres of national public lands, and the communities that depend on them,” said Juli Slivka, senior director of policy and programs at Wilderness Workshop.
A series of bipartisan polls conducted by RABA Research in January found a strong majority of voters in Idaho, Montana and New Mexico opposed his nomination by 76%, 75%, and 71% respectively. However, Pearce did receive the support of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association ahead of his appointment.
The Department of the Interior has also proposed rescinding BLM’s Public Lands Rule, which designated conservation as an official use for public lands.
“Without this rule in place, it will be much more difficult to protect wildlands, wildlife, water and backcountry recreation on our public lands,” said Slivka. “We’ll feel immediate effects of this short-sighted decision in western Colorado, where the BLM is currently working on an updated resource management plan for the North Fork Valley and Uncompahgre Plateau.”
Endangerment Finding
On Feb. 12, the climate and conservation world was also rocked by a decision to overturn the EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, a clause that provided the legal basis for federally regulating greenhouse gas emissions.
The Endangerment Finding was released under the Clean Air Act and stated that “The current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases [including CO2 and methane] in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”
The EPA is legally obligated to act to prevent air pollutants from endangering public health and welfare. In essence, the 2009 Endangerment Finding had made climate change a public health issue and required the EPA to function accordingly.
The Endangerment Finding also specifically targeted the emissions produced by vehicles. According to the official rescission, published on March 4, “As a result of these changes, engine and vehicle manufacturers no longer have any future obligations for the measurement, control and reporting of [greenhouse gas] emissions for any highway engine and vehicle.” The White House called it the “largest deregulation” in history.
The rescission runs contrary to an effort among multiple Roaring Fork Valley municipalities to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. A significant portion of these efforts specifically target emissions released by vehicle trips.
Experts argue that efforts to reduce climate change could be adversely affected over the next several years, as the EPA would now need to perform a new endangerment finding that could potentially be subject to lawsuits.
In turn, more than a dozen health and environmental justice nonprofits, including the American Public Health Association and the Sierra Club, have sued the EPA over its decision.