[Denver Post] Returning to the seats/whims of power rather than serving the areas of the people Trump administration ordered the agency that manages federal land to Colorado in 2019
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will no longer be based entirely out of Grand Junction, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland announced Friday.
Instead, the agency headquarters will return to Washington, D.C., where it had been before a 2019 decision by former President Donald Trump, though BLM said it will maintain and expand its presence in western Colorado.
"It is imperative that the bureau have the appropriate structure and resources to serve the American public," Haaland said in a news release. "There’s no doubt that the BLM should have a leadership presence in Washington, D.C. — like all the other land management agencies — to ensure that it has access to the policy-, budget-, and decision-making levers to best carry out its mission.
"In addition, the BLM’s robust presence in Colorado and across the West will continue to grow."
Colorado politicians and Western Slope leaders who had lobbied to keep the headquarters here expressed mild disappointment on Friday, but also said they were pleased BLM will retain a presence in a state where about 36% is federally managed land.
The Interior Department said the move was to "improve the function of the bureau, help provide clarity for the BLM’s more than 7,000 employees across the country, maintain and increase access for stakeholders, and enable the bureau to better serve the American public and fulfill its mission as the steward of nearly one-fifth of the nation’s public lands."
The BLM director — Biden’s nominee for the job, Tracy Stone-Manning, has not yet been confirmed — and other leadership positions will be set in D.C. Other "senior personnel" will be based in Grand Junction, the Interior Department’s release said, "as part of the more than 95 percent of BLM employees that are already located outside of Washington, D.C."
Trump’s decision to shift BLM headquarters to Colorado in 2019, which came at the same time as the decision to move two U.S. Department of Agriculture research agencies to Kansas City, Missouri, was welcomed by many on the Western Slope and then-GOP U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner.
But more than 87% of the affected employees either resigned or retired instead of moving to Colorado, The Washington Post reported. And it didn’t lead to the promised 27 to 40 jobs; only three BLM employees are currently based at the agency’s leased offices in Grand Junction, said Christian Reece, the executive director of Club 20, an organization that advocates for western Colorado interests.
#2
No bureauracy ever gives up office space.
They can use it for 'satellite offices', so they can have an excuse for going skiing. Business travel, remote office, gotta keep track, ...
Posted by: ed in texas ||
09/18/2021 16:50 Comments ||
Top||
#3
All government office should be moved to the town Bettles, Alaska. Population 12. Refusing to move would mean loss off ALL pension and other benefits as well as being fired and barred from ever working for the government again.
#4
"But more than 87% of the affected employees either resigned or retired instead of moving to Colorado, The Washington Post reported."
And yet, somehow, the self-licking ice cream cone moved and soldiered on.
And this bunch just one upped it with 'I know, let's create a satellite office so we don't have to sell our houses, change our kids' schools, have "the talk" with our paramours, etc.'
Hundreds of police officers started gathering at the Capitol Saturday morning where eight-foot-high security fencing has been erected
100 National Guard troops are on standby and additional checks are being carried out at nearby airports
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said Friday they had intelligence of online 'chatter' that is similar to that seen in the run-up to January 6
Manger said it was 'tough to say' whether threats are credible but said 'we're not going to tolerate violence'
Republicans have sought to distance themselves from the event with even staunch Donald Trump allies Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn not expected to attend
The rally, starting at 12pm, is being held in support of the January 6 rioters jailed for their roles in the riot
Dozens of dump trucks were driven in to form a barrier around the area ahead of the rally at 12pm.
Around 700 Trump supporters and far-right activists are expected to descend on the West lawn of the Capitol for Saturday's rally to protest the federal charges that nearly 600 rioters have been slapped with over January 6.
Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said at a press conference Friday the likeliest possibility for violence at the rally will be between protesters and counter-protesters who may show up, but that law enforcement will not allow things to escalate. He said their intelligence indicated three different groups - one of whom had a history of clashes - were talking of attending. He did not specify the groups.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a Department of Homeland Security intelligence report warned of social media posts that discussed the possibility of storming the Capitol Friday night.
It looks like that didn’t happen, which is suggestive.
One user also 'commented on kidnapping an identified member of Congress,' the document said, though the lawmaker wasn't identified by name in the report.
But the organizer of the rally, a former Trump campaign operative, said it would be a peaceful event. Matt Braynard, who is also the executive director of Look Ahead America, said the intent was to draw attention to the Trump supporters facing federal charges for their role on January 6.
'We look forward to having a very safe, peaceful expression of our First Amendment rights,' he said Friday morning on C-SPAN's 'Washington Journal.'
He noted 'there's no intent for violence on our side.'
He also said he's hired private security for rally.
'Yes a diplomatic security team but they're looped in with the Capitol Police Department and many of them are themselves, you know, ex-cops,' he said.
Manger said they've had 'courtesy' conversations with rally organizers and he was aware they hired private security.
Braynard said his private security team would not be armed. He also said he's asking attendees to film any encounters they have at the rally.
'I believe it's my responsibility to do everything I can do to keep every one of our attendees safe and to do that, we're asking when people leave to leave in large groups, we're asking for people to, if you see anything at all suspicious to somebody acting oddly - look we've all got television studios, right here in our pocket, whip it out and start recording,' he said.
INFORMATION ABOUT SEPTEMBER 18 'JUSTICE FOR J6' RALLY
Location: Union Square area of the Capitol grounds, the section of the West Front containing the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial and Capitol reflecting pool
Start time: 12 noon ET
Leaders of event: Matt Braynard, a former Trump campaign official who organized the rally
He will co-host alongside Cara Castronuova, a pro-Trump boxer who appeared on season 11 of The Biggest Loser
Speakers: Joe Kent, who's challenging GOP Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler in Washington state; she is one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump Mike Collins, a Republican running for Congress in Georgia
Family members of people held on January 6 charges
"I was born on the City of Bangor..."
A two-fisted dick at the Manger
Talks jazzers and jocks,
Walks, cold fish on the docks,
Broads, and battles with boredom bottles and anger.
#11
Apparently the few people who showed up were vastly outnumbered by the press, police and undercover feds. They amused themselves by playing "Who's the fed?"
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Denver Post] 
