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On Friday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report assessing the relocation of the Bureau of Land Management's headquarters from Washington, D.C. to Grand Junction, Colorado. The report found that the BLM failed to create a plan with metrics for success, conducted a shoddy cost-benefit analysis, and has no plan to recruit replacements after staff quit. Out of the 170 employees whose positions will be relocated, 81 have declined so far. "This is an agency with more than 10,000 staff that manages one-tenth of the country. In dismantling the BLM headquarters in such a shoddy, irresponsible way, Secretary Bernhardt is playing with people’s livelihoods and threatening our public lands," said Jennifer Rokala, Executive Director of the Center for Western Priorities.
Despite the significant deficiencies highlighted in the report, the GAO acknowledged that the plan is too far along to be stopped at this point. With dozens of staff already gone and a lease for the new Grand Junction headquarters already underway, much of the damage has already been done.
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This report reveals what many of us were very concerned about – that this relocation was poorly-planned and ill-advised, and that the Trump administration didn’t think through how this would impact people’s lives or the effectiveness of the BLM in the short or long term. I fear this unnecessary and irresponsible institutional damage will have serious ramifications for the agency’s ability to carry out its essential mission for years to come.”
