Letters

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January 26, 2021

The Honorable Joe Biden
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We write today to reiterate our strong support for the Bureau of Land Management headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado. The Bureau of Land Management has a long and distinguished history of responsibly managing land and resources for the multiple-use of the American people. The agency is responsible for overseeing 245 million acres of surface area and 700 million acres of subsurface mineral estate. Today, over 99 percent of the surface area managed by the Bureau of Land Management is located in the Western half of the United States.

On August 10, 2020, the Department of the Interior formally established the Bureau of Land Management headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado. Prior to this relocation, the agency’s headquarters was located thousands of miles away from the land and people most directly impacted by the Bureau’s management decisions.

The establishment of the headquarters in Grand Junction has reduced the number of long cross-country flights, improved training, delegated more responsibility to employees in the field, improved customer service and coordination with local communities, ensured better decisions earlier in the decision-making process, reduced commute times for employees, and provided good-paying local jobs.

The move has already started to benefit taxpayers. The agency estimates it will save more than $2 million in fiscal year 2021 in lease costs and $1.9 million in salary savings annually based on locality pay. DOI has also reported that it saved $1.9 million on travel costs in fiscal year 2020.

The posting of western BLM jobs drew a larger volume of highly-skilled applicants than what the agency would have traditionally received in Washington D.C. It is also important to note that not one employee was removed as a result of the move West. The agency found jobs for people that wanted to stay in D.C. and paid expenses to help employees make the move West.

Any effort to move the Bureau back to D.C. would have significant costs and could negatively impact employees, many of whom recently uprooted their lives and excitedly moved West. Furthermore, there is no identified location to move them back to as the M Street location no longer exists.

According to U.S. News and World Report, Colorado offers four of the five best places to live in the United States. Colorado has amenities that attract and retain a highly educated and productive workforce. Grand Junction was selected for the headquarters location because of its substantial cost savings, travel accessibility, quality of life attributes, and increased representation among the communities affected by land management decisions.

People from nearby states that would have never traveled to Washington D.C. for a meeting have already found their way to Grand Junction including sheriffs, ranchers, and county commissioners.

The Grand Junction community has welcomed Bureau of Land Management staff and many neighbors have dropped by the new headquarters to express their gratitude, some even bringing baked goods with them.

Housing the Bureau of Land Management Headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado, has consistently enjoyed bipartisan support.

For these reasons and more, we urge you to keep the Bureau of Land Management Headquarters in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Sincerely,