Republican Rep. Jeff Hurd of Colorado wants the Bureau of Land Management to follow President Donald Trump’s blueprint during his first term and relocate the bureau’s national headquarters to his state.
Hurd’s bill, H.R. 1125, calls for moving BLM’s Washington headquarters to Grand Junction, Colorado, in an effort to “provide for improved management of Federal lands and increased efficiencies within public land agencies while strengthening tourism, conservation, outdoor recreation, grazing, responsible energy production, and other multiple uses,” according to the text of the bill provided by Hurd’s office.
The “Local Opportunities, Conservation and American Lands (LOCAL) Act’’ also calls for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to conduct a study “on the feasibility of relocating more existing Bureau of Land Management employee positions to the headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado or a western State specified by the Secretary.”
The study — which would have to be submitted within a year of the bill’s enactment to the House Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee — would also evaluate “amongst other things whether such relocation will improve management” of federal lands, according to the bill’s text.
