Public Lands Agency Move Praised By Western Groups

DENVER – A group of trade associations representing farmers, ranchers, and energy producers came together today to praise the Trump Administration for completing the relocation of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from Washington, DC, to Grand Junction, Colo. The groups called the move a major step to bringing public land managers closer to the lands they regulate and urged members of Congress to continue to support the relocation.

“The second largest source of revenue for the federal government after income taxes collected by the IRS is oil and natural gas production from federal lands and waters,” said Kathleen Sgamma, president of Western Energy Alliance. “Last year, companies returned $12 billion in oil and natural gas royalties to the federal government, double the 2016 figure. The Trump Administration recognizes the importance of our industry to the American economy, and the need to transfer decision making out West to where the vast majority of public lands are located. We thank Senator Cory Gardner for his efforts to make the BLM move to Colorado a reality, and we urge Congress to continue to support a more responsive agency closer to the people and lands impacted.”

"Making government more responsive to the people and places it represents is always a good thing," said Carlyle Currier, a Mesa County rancher and Vice President of Colorado Farm Bureau. "And moving the BLM to western Colorado does just that. It forces officials to have a front-row seat to the real-life impact of their decisions on managing public land. Sen. Gardner's leadership on this issue has been critical, as well as the bipartisan support for the move. We look forward to interacting more closely with BLM officials now that they live and work near the lands they help manage."

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