House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raъl Grijalva (D-AZ-3) wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) headquarters should return to Washington, D.C.
“The BLM headquarters is now housed more than 1,000 miles away from those of the other federal agencies responsible for protecting our public lands,” he wrote. “This distance, simply put, serves no legitimate purpose.”
After the move to Grand Junction, CO, about 87 percent of employees chose to leave the agency rather than make the move.
“President Biden has set out an ambitious agenda for our public lands. That agenda cannot be carried out if the responsible agencies cannot effectively and efficiently carry out their legal mandates,” Grijalva wrote.
