Trump moves BLM headquarters; 87% quit rather than move

The Trump administration’s decision to relocate most Bureau of Land Management headquarters staff out West – designed to shift power away from the nation’s capital – prompted more than 87% of the affected employees to either quit or resign rather than move, according to new data obtained by The Washington Post. The exit of longtime career staffers from the agency responsible for managing more than 10% of the nation’s land shows the extent to which the Trump administration reshaped the federal government. The reorganization plan reestablished the bureau’s headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo., moved 328 positions out of the department’s main D.C. office and left 60 jobs in place. A total of 287 BLM employees either retired or found other jobs, according to Interior Department communications director Melissa Schwartz, while 41 people moved to the new office in Colorado. Asked for comment on how the shift affected the bureau’s operations, Schwartz declined to comment. But several experts, including former high-ranking Interior Department officials, said the shake-up has deprived the agency of needed expertise and disrupted its operations. The bureau oversees all oil and gas drilling on federal lands, which has emerged as a flash point in the early days of the Biden administration. About 95% of the BLM’s more than 9,000 staffers were working outside of Washington before the relocation took place. The Trump administration argued that it made more sense to place more of the agency’s workforce in the West because most of the areas it manages are located there. Congressional Republicans are lobbying to maintain the new headquarters in Grand Junction. The Trump administration shifted 76 positions out of headquarters altogether, so there are now a total of 480 headquarters jobs, 100 of which remain vacant. Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said this week she was leading a campaign to keep the bureau in the city she represents...MORE

 

87% of the DC employees quit. 

287 would rather have no job than live in the West.

I would say this has been a very successful operation.

If you don't want to live among us, you sure shouldn't be managing our surroundings.

If I lived in Denver, Phoenix or Santa Fe, and through field reps made all the land use decisions for DC, wonder how they would like it.