The BLM headquarters will have to remain in Grand Junction at least for the next year if Democrats, as expected, pass their budget resolution for the 2022 fiscal year.
That’s because U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert managed to attach an amendment to the budget as it passed through the House Natural Resources Committee last week.
Boebert told Club 20 at the fall conference on Saturday she wasn’t reassured during Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s recent trip here that the agency would remain in the Grand Valley.
“We need that hands-on input for the lands here in the west,” Boebert said. “We don’t need another bureaucracy in Washington, D.C., making decisions for us here in the west. The travel that it saves, just having people right here, it’s so important.”
The amendment passed with bipartisan support and prohibits any federal 2022 funding from being used to close the Grand Junction office.
Boebert also told Club 20 she strongly opposes President Biden’s nominee, former ecoterrorist and tree-spiking enthusiast Tracy Stone-Manning, to serve as the BLM director.
From the Daily Sentinel:
“I don’t believe that an eco-terrorist should be directing the BLM, but we’ve seen extreme nominations this year already,” Boebert said. “I’m proud to say that I led the charge in opposing (David) Chipman’s nomination with the ATF, and now, we’ve seen that they’ve withdrawn that nomination. Perhaps, perhaps, if we all collectively get together and are loud enough, maybe we can get another director nominated for the BLM.”
By all means, it’s past time for Biden to pull Stone-Manning’s nomination.
In other news, Gov. Polis did not attend the Club 20 fall conference.