Farmington: $11.4 million in stimulus money for new BLM office

Construction is under way on the Bureau of Land Management's new $11.4 million building that will triple the size of the bureau's current building. Construction began last summer on the new 36,000-square-foot building off College Boulevard north of Sandalwood Drive. Crews are completing the foundation of the stimulus-funded building that's located on 26 acres north of Piedra Vista High School. The Farmington BLM is one of four district offices in the state and it oversees two field offices: one in Farmington, the other in Taos. It also contains the Federal Indian Minerals Office. Bureau employees said they are looking forward to moving out of their cluttered quarters on the La Plata Highway in Farmington. About 115 employees work there. Cubicles occupied by petroleum engineer technicians, geologists, archaeologists, administrators and other employees fit tightly into the 10,000 square-foot building built in 1988. "The building is starting to show its age," said Joel Farrell, the bureau's assistant field manager...more