"The Biden administration plans to move the Bureau of Land Management’s headquarters back to Washington but will convert the current headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo., into a Western hub with additional staff assigned there, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland told bureau employees today.
“I intend to restore the national headquarters of the BLM to Washington, D.C., ensuring a presence in the nation’s Capitol with all the other land management agencies in the federal family,” Haaland said during the 12-minute session.
The decision, which would appear to demote the Grand Junction office into a kind of sub-headquarters, would restore a BLM leadership presence in D.C. after the Trump-era relocation of hundreds of positions to Grand Junction and other state offices across the West. That move prompted dozens of senior officials to leave the bureau, creating a large leadership void and dysfunctional operation that continues today, critics have said.
Under the new plan Haaland outlined in very broad terms to BLM employees in an internal online session today, the director and other key leadership positions — presumably the deputy director of policy and programs and the deputy director of operations — will be permanently stationed in Washington."
Scott Streater reports for E&E News September 17, 2021.
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