WASHINGTON, D.C. – Like many departments and agencies within the executive branch, the Bureau of Land Management has its headquarters in Washington. But Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, and Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, want to change that.
Gardner introduced a bill in the Senate to instruct Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to develop a plan to move BLM headquarters to a western state. Tipton has introduced the companion bill in the House.
“One of the consistent concerns I hear from (constituents) is they feel like sometimes Washington doesn’t listen to them. They feel like they have a great relationship with their local BLM office, but something happens on the way to Washington that changes that process,” Gardner said.
The BLM manages about 250 million acres of land, more than 99 percent of which are west of the Mississippi River.
About 9,000 BLM employees work throughout the U.S., and another nearly 600 in its headquarters in Washington.
According to estimates, about 400 employees in the BLM headquarters would be considered for a move; some positions would remain in Washington.
“The idea is to simply break up the Washington mentality, to bring the leadership to where the land is,” Gardner said.
Gardner and Tipton have expressed support for the headquarters to move to Grand Junction, but the bill does not specify a potential location for a new headquarters.
If Grand Junction is chosen to host the new headquarters, it could be a potential economic driver for the city and Colorado.
The bill does specify that a new headquarters be located in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington or Wyoming.
If the bill passed, there would be an open process to choose a site. In October 2015, then-presidential candidate Jeb Bush proposed that the BLM headquarters be moved to the West.
Moving the BLM headquarters to the West would also give county commissioners the “ability to get in front of decision-makers,” without having to fly to Washington, said Gardner.
The bill has received support from Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, the Hinsdale County Commissioners, the Grand County Commissioners, the Montezuma County Commissioners, the Colorado Farm Bureau and Club 20, a Western Colorado bipartisan coalition.