Nation/World

Bureau of Land Management headquarters to return to D.C. from Colorado, reversing Trump decision

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department will summon the far-flung headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management back to Washington from the mountains of western Colorado, reversing a move by the Trump administration that caused upheaval within the agency and led to nearly 90 percent of the former headquarters staff to retire, quit or leave for other jobs.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland broke the news to BLM staffers on a phone call Friday afternoon, before the announcement was made public in a statement shortly afterward. Haaland said the agency will create a new “Western headquarters” in Grand Junction, Colo., in place of the national headquarters.

In the call to staff, Haaland said her “primary concern has always been for your well being and to restore the effectiveness of the BLM’s operations.”

“I know the past few years have been difficult for many of you. The relocation of the BLM headquarters scattered employees and programs across the West, driven others out of the agency, and put enormous stress on those who remained,” Haaland said, according to the call heard by a reporter for The Washington Post.

Haaland and other BLM leaders have been surveying employees about the headquarters move to Grand Junction, which was completed last year at the end of the Trump administration. The move had led to widespread stress and frustration among headquarters staff in Washington, who were given a deadline of last summer to move to rural Colorado or other Western cities or lose their jobs, despite the pandemic.

Of the 328 headquarters positions slated to move out of Washington, 287 employees either retired or quit for other jobs, Haaland noted during a visit to Grand Junction in July, as she prepared a plan for the headquarters and talked to employees. Just three people ultimately ended up relocating to Grand Junction, she told reporters at the time, and more than 80 vacancies in the headquarters office remained.

The Trump administration justified the headquarters move, saying the vast majority of the public lands managed by the BLM is in the Western U.S. and the move would put leadership closer to that land. But current and former employees have said they believe the intention was to weaken the agency that does environmental assessments and regulates fossil fuel and other energy interests.

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Colorado politicians, including Democrats, also have supported the headquarters staying in their state, despite the disruption to the agency.

“It’s a huge benefit to the American people if their government can be closer to them,” Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Col., said during Haaland’s July visit to Colorado. “That’s what this really represents, the opportunity to get the agency out to the public lands that it manages with the help of all of us.”

Haaland said during her call on Friday the BLM’s presence in Grand Junction “will remain and grow” as the new Western headquarters and “important policy functions and senior personnel will continue to be located” there. But the agency’s director and “other key leadership positions” will return to Washington, “ensuring a presence in the nation’s capital, like all the other land management agencies in the federal family.”

Haaland added that apart from the core leadership team, employees who have already moved will not be required to relocate.

“I believe that this is an important step forward to rebuilding high-level functionality for the BLM and to ensure that leadership is centrally available for engagement with Indian tribes, with Congress, with other agency leadership and its many stakeholders,” she told the staff. “The BLM is central to meeting the challenges of our day, from tackling climate change to expanding access to the great outdoors for all Americans to build back better.”

Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., supported the department’s plan to have two headquarters.

“A Western BLM Headquarters in Colorado will help ensure we have a fully functioning agency that understands the West,” Hickenlooper said in a statement on Friday. “To succeed, the Western HQ must be a strong, permanent presence that engages the community and adds a Western perspective and value to the BLM’s mission.”

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