President Donald Trump on Wednesday tapped a conservation critic and former oil industry executive to head up the federal agency that oversees the majority of public lands in the United States.

If approved, former U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce of New Mexico will lead the Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for balancing conservation of public lands with human use, such as resource extraction and cattle grazing. Since January, the Trump administration has overwhelmingly prioritized the latter with the Department of the Interior—BLM’s parent agency—rapidly approving oil, gas and mining permits, including more than 600 new permits to drill on public lands since the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, according to a recent analysis by the nonprofit Center for Western Priorities.

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