{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/what-theyre-saying-hickenlooper-is-right-to-oppose-trumps-latest-blm-nominee/", "What They\u2019re Saying: Hickenlooper is Right to Oppose Trump\u2019s Latest BLM Nominee", "2025-12-17", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "CO", "John W. Hickenlooper", "H000273", "www.hickenlooper.senate.gov", "hickenlooper", "https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press/page/", "scraper", "Hickenlooper: \u201cHis nomination is proof that the Trump administration still views our public lands as assets for sale.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 In case you missed it, U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper announced at the beginning of the month that he would oppose President Trump\u2019s nomination of former U.S. Representative Steve Pearce to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). He was the first senator to publicly oppose Pearce\u2019s nomination and has been sounding the alarm about his nomination.\n\nHere\u2019s what they\u2019re saying:\n\nGrand Junction Daily Sentinel: Hick is right to oppose BLM nominee early\n\nDenver 7: WATCH: Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper pushing back against the President\u2019s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management\n\nColorado Politics: Colorado\u2019s John Hickenlooper says he\u2019ll oppose BLM nominee\n\nDurango Herald: Our view: Reject Pearce\n\n\u201cAmericans deserve a BLM director who will be a true steward of the millions of acres under the agency\u2019s care. Steve Pearce is NOT that person. While in Congress, he attacked environmental protections and fought to sell off public land,\u201d said Hickenlooper.\n\n\u201cHis nomination is proof that the Trump administration still views our public lands as assets for sale. On behalf of Colorado, I will vote NO because our public lands are NOT for sale.\u201d\n\nPearce marked his time in Congress working to undermine environmental protections, open public lands for oil and gas operations, and sell public lands.\n\nHickenlooper is a former geologist and one of the only scientists in the Senate. He has been outspoken against Trump administration cuts to public lands and led an effort against the admin\u2019s plans to overturn the Bureau of Land Management\u2019s (BLM) Public Lands Rule. In March, he introduced legislation to reinstate the thousands of National Park Service and Forest Service workers the Trump administration illegally fired.\n\nHickenlooper also helped lead the fight against Senator Mike Lee\u2019s proposal to sell off more than three million acres of public lands. Hickenlooper first sounded the alarm back in April when he voted against the Republican budget resolution and introduced an amendment with colleagues to protect public lands from being sold to pay for Republicans\u2019 tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.\n\nIn May, Hickenlooper held a press conference in Estes Park with Congressman Neguse, public lands advocates, and local elected officials to call out the Trump administration\u2019s threats to Colorado\u2019s national parks and public lands, including Rocky Mountain National Park.\n\nCheck out what they\u2019re saying:\n\nGrand Junction Daily Sentinel: Hick is right to oppose BLM nominee early\n\nSteve Pearce, President Trump\u2019s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management, is a leopard who can\u2019t change his spots.\n\nThat\u2019s the opinion of Colorado\u2019s U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, who took the unusual step of announcing he\u2019ll oppose the nomination well ahead of Pearce\u2019s confirmation hearing, expected to be scheduled in January.\n\n\u201cAmericans deserve a BLM director who will be a true steward of the millions of acres under the agency\u2019s care,\u201d Hickenlooper said. \u201cPearce is NOT that person. While in Congress, he attacked environmental protections and fought to sell off public land.\n\n\u201cHis nomination is proof that the Trump administration still views our public lands as assets for sale. On behalf of Colorado, I will vote NO because our public lands are NOT for sale.\u201d\n\nPretty blunt, but entirely appropriate for the moment. Hickenlooper, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, helped lead the fight against Utah Sen. Mike Lee\u2019s proposal to sell off more than three million acres of public land earlier this year.\n\nLee withdrew his proposal from a major spending bill in late June 2025 due, in part, to overwhelming bipartisan opposition. The fight led to the formation of the bipartisan Senate Stewardship Caucus, which Hickenlooper joined as an inaugural member.\n\n\u2026Hickenlooper, for one, has made clear that Pearce is the wrong man for the job.\n\nWATCH: Denver 7: Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper pushing back against the President\u2019s nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management\n\nColorado Politics: Colorado\u2019s John Hickenlooper says he\u2019ll oppose BLM nominee\n\nU.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., a member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said Thursday he will oppose the nomination of Steve Pearce to be the next director of the Bureau of Land Management.\n\n\u2026\u201cAmericans deserve a BLM director who will be a true steward of the millions of acres under the agency\u2019s care,\u201d Hickenlooper said. \u201cPearce is NOT that person,\u201d the senator said. \u201cWhile in Congress, he attacked environmental protections and fought to sell off public land.\u201d He added that Pearce\u2019s nomination is proof the Trump administration still views public lands as assets for sale. \u201cOn behalf of Colorado, I will vote NO because our public lands are NOT for sale,\u201d he said.\n\nDurango Herald: Our view: Reject Pearce\n\nWe thought the fight over selling off America\u2019s public lands had been settled in July. But President Donald Trump\u2019s nomination of former New Mexico Republican Congressman Steve Pearce to lead the Bureau of Land Management makes clear the threat is back \u2013 and more brazen than ever. Pearce embodies the belief that public lands exist to be liquidated, drilled, or handed off to private interests. Putting him in charge of the BLM is the political equivalent of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.\n\nSen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) clearly recognizes the danger. On Dec. 4, he took the rare step of announcing \u2013 before any confirmation hearing \u2013 that he would vote no. Senators do not do this lightly, especially those on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. But Hickenlooper didn\u2019t mince words: Americans deserve a BLM director who is \u201ca true steward,\u201d and \u201cSteve Pearce is NOT that person.\u201d Pearce\u2019s record attacking environmental protections and backing the sale of public lands, he said, proves the administration still sees shared lands as \u201cassets for sale.\u201d\n\nHe\u2019s right to sound the alarm early. This nomination cannot be treated as business as usual\u2026\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hickenlooper.senate.gov/press_releases/what-theyre-saying-hickenlooper-is-right-to-oppose-trumps-latest-blm-nominee/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.675027422606945, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}