Finally, a top Interior official has confirmed the BLM will move their headquarters out of Washington, D.C. to a soon-to-be-named western state starting next year.
And not just any official made the announcement, but the deputy secretary of Interior, David Bernhardt, who just happens to be a Western Slope native.
Bernhardt confirmed that money is being budgeted for the move in the next fiscal year.
From the Daily Sentinel:
Bernhardt spoke Friday by hookup from the White House to more than 30 western Colorado officials and others gathered for a Western-issues forum at Colorado Mesa University.
U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton and U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, both Colorado Republicans who attended the forum, said they welcomed Bernhardt’s comments.
“Cory and I looked at each other,” Tipton said. “It was great to hear.”
Gardner and Tipton have been the movers and shakers guiding the move out of D.C., while simultaneously lobbing Congress for Colorado to be that western state.
We also suspect that the strongest ally the Western Slope has in the Trump administration to get the new BLM location, is Bernhardt himself.